Liverpool could be the latest Premier League club to attract high-profile investors to its ownership structure.
Talks over a potential Liverpool investment have progressed, with Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos part of a consortium close to acquiring around one-third of the club.
Multiple reports published today (10 August) suggest that a group led by businessman Amit Bhatia is in the final stages of a deal, building on the expression of interest reported by Insider Sport in July.
The consortium includes Bhatia, the son-in-law of steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal and a former shareholder in Queens Park Rangers, as well as Bezos and, as of the latest reports, Facebook Co-founder Eduardo Saverin.
The deal would see the group acquire a stake worth roughly one-third of Liverpool, leaving Fenway Sports Group (FSG) as majority owner but introducing a new minority shareholder next to existing partners such as Dynasty Equity, which bought a smaller stake in 2023.
Day-to-day decisions on football matters, such as manager appointments and transfer strategy, are expected to stay with FSG.
The deal has attracted a lot of attention due to Bezos and his close calls with becoming an owner of a sports team. He was previously linked with the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, who sold for a record $9bn to the Khosla family last month, and was mentioned as a potential buyer of the Washington Commanders before that franchise sold for $6.05bn in 2023.
Sky reported that a deal for Liverpool is expected to be announced as early as this week, though Fenway FSG has yet to provide an update.
What’s changed since July
When Insider Sport reported on the talks last month, FSG had confirmed that a Bhatia-led consortium had expressed interest in a strategic minority investment, with no deal agreed.
The stake under discussion has since increased from 30% to closer to one-third, and Saverin’s involvement, unconfirmed in July, is part of the reporting.
The investment would value Liverpool at approximately £4.4bn ($5.9bn), which is one of the largest valuations ever placed on a football club. At that price, a one-third stake would be worth in the region of £1.4bn.
Liverpool has experienced a lot of change in recent months, with Michael Edwards, credited with building the squad that ended the club’s 30-year title wait in 2020, leaving his role as FSG’s chief executive of football in July, as well as manager Arne Slot and star player Mohamed Salah both departing.
Former Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola has taken over and will be looking to improve on last season’s fifth-place finish while also battling it out in the UEFA Champions League.
Why the price makes sense to investors
Speaking to Insider Sport, Harsh Talikoti, a Director in Houlihan Lokey‘s Financial and Valuation Advisory business, says the figures demonstrate a general repricing of what elite sports franchises are worth.
“Scarcity is the defining feature: clubs like Liverpool, with more than 130 years of history, 20 English league titles, six European Cups and a genuinely global fanbase, simply cannot be replicated, and their diversified revenues across media rights, matchday and commercial partnerships make them attractive to long-term capital,” he said.
This perspective also helps explain why this particular consortium is closing in on a deal. Bhatia’s family holds a stake in the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and a position in the Boston Celtics, and Talikoti sees the Liverpool talks as part of a pattern.
He says the deal for the Premier League club is a “sign of capital converging across leagues on the same underlying thesis. Minority stakes have become the preferred entry point, letting investors gain exposure to that growth story while incumbent owners retain control and crystallise value.”
FSG, which bought Liverpool from Tom Hicks and George Gillett in 2010, followed this playbook in 2023 when it sold a minority stake to US sports investment firm Dynasty Equity for around $200m to help fund stadium and training infrastructure without ceding control.
