Jeff Bezos is buying into soccer. The Amazon founder is part of an investor group that has agreed to take a stake in Liverpool FC, one of the biggest clubs in English football, in a deal that values the team at roughly 7.4 billion dollars. The transaction, completed on Friday, August 15, marks the first time Bezos has put his money into a sports franchise, adding one of the most storied names in the Premier League to a portfolio already stretched across retail, space, and media.
The consortium is acquiring a minority holding of about 30 percent, but the terms leave the door open to much more. Under the agreement, the group could become the majority shareholder within a year if it chooses, a structure that turns a minority investment into a potential path to control.
A heavyweight group of buyers
Bezos, whose fortune Forbes estimates at 274.1 billion dollars, is not the only billionaire in the deal. The group also includes Eduardo Saverin, the co-founder of Facebook, who is worth around 33 billion dollars, and the Mittal family of steel fame. Together they represent one of the wealthiest ownership consortia ever assembled around a European football club, a sign of how far American and global money has moved into a sport once dominated by local patrons.
The seller is Fenway Sports Group, the American company run by John Henry that has owned Liverpool since 2010. FSG is keeping majority ownership and day to day operational control for now, while retaining the option to sell a larger slice to the incoming investors down the line. In other words, the club's current stewards remain in charge, but they have brought in deep pocketed partners and mapped out how those partners could eventually take over.






