Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly and co-owner Mark Walter are negotiating the sale of their stake to major shareholder Clearlake Capital
Todd Boehly and Mark Walter are in talks to sell their shares in Chelsea FC to Clearlake Capital, the club’s majority shareholder.
As reported by The Financial Times, while an agreement has not yet been reached, negotiations have gained momentum in recent weeks.
Clearlake owns 61.5% of Chelsea, while Boehly, Walter, and Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss each hold 12.8%. It is unclear whether Wyss also intends to sell his stake alongside Boehly and Walter.
Boehly and Walter currently value Chelsea at £5bn ($6.8bn), four years after the consortium purchased the club for £2.5bn from Roman Abramovich and committed an additional £1.75bn in investments.
Boehly and Walter believe their stake has increased in value, according to talkSPORT, with talks taking place that could allow both to cash in on their investment.
Chelsea: Boehly disagreement with Clearlake
Boehly and Clearlake co-founder Behdad Eghbali have, for some time, disagreed on the direction of the club. It has previously been reported that while Boehly has veto power, he feels sidelined in major decisions, including those around the club’s recruitment model.
The departure of head coach Mauricio Pochettino is seen as a turning point. Boehly wanted to keep him, but Clearlake did not.
Boehly became chairman when the consortium completed the takeover in 2022, a position he was set to hold for four years. He is expected to step down at the end of the current season, and Clearlake will be allowed to choose his successor.
Boehly is expected to leave the ownership group entirely in 2027, after initially being the public face of the takeover back in 2022 – though Eghbali has gradually filled that status.
With 60% controlling vote, Clearlake, led by Eghbali and Jose Feliciano, effectively runs the club. Through BlueCo, the firm operates a multi-club model that includes, among others, the French club Strasbourg.
Walter departure coincides with prosecution case
Walter’s desire to exit the club comes a week after he agreed to sell the Los Angeles Lakers, less than a year after purchasing them to a group that includes Joshua Kushner for a record $12.5bn.
The sale coincides with a federal investigation into Walter’s business empire. U.S. prosecutors in Manhattan and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are currently investigating whether Walter or his companies committed fraud by concealing financial ties while raising billions of dollars from insurers he controls, as the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
Two insurers – Delaware Life Insurance and Clear Spring Life and Annuity, subsidiaries of Group 1001 – received subpoenas to appear before a grand jury in February, as reported by Bloomberg. The investigation centres on whether certain private credit investments should have been classified as related-party transactions.
Chelsea has finished outside the Champions League spots in three of the last four seasons, has had no long-term sponsor on the front of its jersey, and has not yet addressed the expansion of Stamford Bridge.
If the deal goes through, Clearlake will increase its stake, and Boehly will likely exit the club entirely in 2027.
