Jeff Bezos buys 30% of Liverpool for $1.93 billion

Jeff Bezos already has his first major asset in professional sports. The founder of Amazon participates, through K5 Sports, in 1892 Holdings, the investment vehicle that has agreed to acquire a minority stake in Liverpool valued by The Times at £1.65 billion, around €1.93 billion. The rumor was well-founded: Jeff Bezos already has his first major asset in professional sports.

Fenway Sports Group (FSG), owner of Liverpool since 2010, confirmed yesterday that it has reached a definitive agreement to sell a minority stake in the club to 1892 Holdings, a new investment vehicle led by businessman Amit Bhatia and in which the founder and executive chairman of Amazon's board of directors participates. The operation puts an end to several weeks of negotiations.

Pending the exact figure of the transaction, Reuters places the acquired stake at approximately one-third of the club's capital, while the Financial Times indicates that the figure could be even higher. For its part, The Times rates the transaction at £1.65 billion (€1.93 billion at the exchange rate), which places the implicit valuation of the club at £5.5 billion (€6.435 billion).

However, the agreement is still pending the relevant approvals. The official statement from Liverpool expressly states that the transaction is conditional on the corresponding regulatory authorizations and other conditions usual in this type of operation. FSG will continue as the majority shareholder and will retain operational control of the club.

The entry of Bezos, adds Reuters, occurs in a different way than expected. The businessman does not directly acquire the shareholding and will not be the visible head of the new shareholder. Bezos enters the operation through K5 Sports, a fund of K5 Global that participates as an investor in 1892 Holdings and in which the Amazon founder appears as the main investor. He will also not have his own seat on the board of directors of Liverpool.

The new investment vehicle created ad hoc for the occasion, 1892 Holdings, takes as a reference the year in which the English club was created, which has won the Champions League up to six times. It is led and managed by Amit Bhatia, founder of AyBe Capital and former co-owner of Queens Park Rangers, and who is married to Vanisha Mittal, daughter of the steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal.

The vehicle brings together investments from Bhatia and the Mittal family trusts; from K5 Sports, with Bezos as the main investor; and from EE Capital, the family office of Elaine and Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of Facebook.

Also, according to Reuters and The Times, Bhatia will become vice president of Liverpool and acquire a very relevant position within the club. Elaine Saverin - wife of Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of Facebook (now Meta Platforms) -, on behalf of EE Capital, and Bryan Baum, co-founder and managing partner of K5 Global, who will represent the interests linked to K5 Sports, will also join the board.

The financial magnitude of the names involved provides Liverpool with a new group of shareholders with considerable investment capacity. In this sense, Forbes estimates Jeff Bezos' fortune at $271.7 billion, making him the third richest person in the world.

The operation also allows for the sizing of the business carried out by FSG since its arrival in England. The US conglomerate led by John W. Henry acquired Liverpool in 2010 for around £300 million (€351 million). The valuation of the club according to The Times until the entry of 1892 Holdings was around £5.5 billion (€6.436 billion).

In strictly comparative terms, Liverpool is now worth approximately 18 times the price that FSG paid for the entire club 16 years ago, a revaluation of over 1,700%. Even the approximately £1.65 billion that FSG would receive for selling around 30% is equivalent to 5.5 times the outlay made to acquire 100% of the entity in 2010.

The economic growth of the asset accompanies this revaluation. Liverpool reached record revenues of £703 million in the 2024/2025 season, compared to £614 million in the previous year, and obtained a profit after taxes of eight million. Its commercial turnover rose to £323 million, audiovisual rights contributed £264 million, and the stadium business reached £116 million.

Liverpool is not just any club. Its record and history speak for themselves: twenty English league titles, six Champions Leagues, three Europa Leagues, and eight FA Cups (English national cup) are included among its more than 52 official titles. A very attractive presentation letter for investors along with the more than €800 million that the club earned and made public in March of this year.

Deloitte subsequently placed the club as the English team with the highest revenues for the first time in the history of its Football Money League, with €836 million. On a global scale, it ranked fifth, only behind Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Paris Saint-Germain.

These numbers help explain why the agreed valuation has ended up exceeding the initial figures handled during the negotiations. In July and early August, conversations initially placed Liverpool around €5 billion; the agreement reached now raises the reference above €6 billion.