Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder and one of the richest people in the world, is closing in on a deal to take a stake in Liverpool Football Club as part of a billionaire consortium, in what would be one of the most significant investments ever made in a leading English club. Sky News understands the transaction, worth roughly two billion dollars, is likely to be announced within days and possibly as soon as this week, capping a process that has been developing behind the scenes for some time.
The investment is being pursued not by Bezos alone but through a syndicate of investors led by a businessman named Amit Bhatia, who has been in negotiations with Fenway Sports Group, the American company that has owned and controlled Liverpool since 2010. Bezos, currently ranked as the world's fourth richest man, is understood to be taking part in the group rather than fronting the bid himself, joining a wider collection of wealthy backers assembled for the deal.
Alongside Bezos, the investor group is understood to include Eduardo Saverin, one of the co-founders of the social network Facebook, adding further high-profile wealth to a consortium already stacked with major names from global business. The scale of the personal fortunes involved underlines the growing appetite among the world's wealthiest individuals for ownership positions in elite European football, where marquee clubs have become prized assets.
According to the details that have emerged, the stake being acquired is likely to be in the region of 30 to 35 percent of the club, with a price tag of just under two billion dollars attached to that holding. A deal of that magnitude would rank among the most valuable ever struck for a share in a top Premier League side, reflecting the premium now placed on the game's most storied and commercially powerful clubs at a time of intense investor interest.
The move follows a wider trend in English football, with large stakes in other major clubs having changed hands in recent years. There are clear parallels with some of the richest deals ever completed in the Premier League, including those involving Manchester United and Chelsea, where significant ownership shares have been sold to wealthy overseas investors. Liverpool itself stands as one of the most historic and successful names in the English game, which helps explain the size of the sums being discussed.
Fenway Sports Group, which has overseen a period of major success at Anfield since taking control in 2010, is now preparing to make an announcement about the transaction, with those close to the process indicating it could come within a matter of days. The deal is said to have been taking shape over the past few weeks before reaching its current, advanced stage, and its completion would formally bring a new set of investors into one of world football's best-known institutions.
For Liverpool's supporters, the arrival of backers of the stature of Bezos and his fellow investors would mark a striking new chapter in the club's ownership, drawing some of the world's deepest pockets into the fold. While the finer terms of the agreement remain to be confirmed publicly, the emerging deal points to the continued flow of vast global wealth into the Premier League and to Liverpool's position at the very top end of that market.