From Tom Brady to Snoop Dogg, American billionaires, CEOs and celebrities are buying into English football—or as they would call it, soccer. In fact, over half of the Premier League’s 20 clubs are currently majority-owned by U.S. investors. And now, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is the latest to invest in Europe’s biggest sport.
That’s because the consortium 1892 Holdings—led by Bezos, British-Indian millionaire businessman Amit Bhatia and billionaire Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin—has just bought 38% of Liverpool Football Club (FC) from the club’s current owner Fenway Sports Group for around £2 billion (around $2.7 billion).
It’s a drop in Bezos’ fortune, who, with a $273 billion net worth, is the third richest person on the planet. But it’s not without its risks.
Although Liverpool FC’s currently worth between £5 billion and £6 billion (around $6.8 to $9.5 billion), when FSG bought it for £300m (around $409 million) in 2010, the club was, according to its CEO Billy Hogan, “literally on the brink of bankruptcy.”
And while Liverpool’s in a strong financial position today, Bezos is buying into his first football club at a period of turbulence: They are trying to bounce back from a disappointing fifth-place finish in the top flight last season; Its manager, Arne Slot, was sacked as a result.
