Liverpool Ownership Shake-Up: Jeff Bezos Set to Buy Stake

Liverpool are braced for one of the most eye-catching ownership shake-ups in modern football – with Jeff Bezos set to buy into Anfield.

Fenway Sports Group (FSG) are close to selling roughly a one‑third stake in Liverpool to a heavyweight consortium fronted by former QPR co-owner Amit Bhatia and backed by the Amazon founder, according to Sky News. Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin is also part of the syndicate.

If completed, the deal would value Liverpool at around £4.4bn ($6bn), placing the club among the most expensively priced assets in world sport and marking a dramatic new chapter in the Premier League’s age of super-capital.

The money behind the move

Bezos needs little introduction. The 60-year-old built Amazon from a garage operation in Seattle in 1994 into a global behemoth and sits, by Forbes’ estimates, on a personal fortune of about $281bn (£209bn). Only Elon Musk and Google co-founder Larry Page are listed as richer.

His portfolio stretches from space – via aerospace firm Blue Origin – to media, with Nash Holdings owning The Washington Post. Now, he is on the verge of adding a slice of one of football’s most storied clubs to that list.

Bhatia brings a different profile. The 46-year-old British-Indian entrepreneur comes from an investment banking background and runs AyBe Capital, a multi-asset investment firm with interests spanning technology, media, property and real estate, consumer retail and health.

He is also deeply plugged into global wealth. Bhatia is married to Vanisha Mittal Bhatia, daughter of steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal. Forbes values Mittal at around £23.2bn, ranking him among the world’s richest individuals.

Saverin, 44, adds another Silicon Valley thread. The Facebook co-founder has already dipped a toe into elite football, having been part of a consortium that tried – unsuccessfully – to buy Chelsea during the 2022 sale triggered by sanctions on Roman Abramovich.

The identities of other potential investors in the Liverpool syndicate remain under wraps for now.

What does this mean for Liverpool’s ownership?

FSG will remain in charge. The Boston-based group currently hold full control of Liverpool, with private equity firms RedBird Capital and Arctos Sports Partners already on the books as minority shareholders. Dynasty Equity joined that list in 2023, investing £164m in a deal that valued the club at more than $4.5bn.

This new transaction would be a step up in scale. A roughly one-third stake at a £4.4bn valuation would represent one of the richest minority deals football has seen.

FSG, who were known as New England Sports Ventures when they paid £300m for Liverpool in October 2010, are under no financial pressure to sell. They have, however, been open about their willingness to bring in fresh capital since 2022. With Liverpool having lifted every major trophy under their watch, there is a sense of “mission completed” in sporting terms – and an obvious opportunity to crystallise a huge profit on their original outlay without relinquishing control.

Who are the new power players in sport?

Bezos has long been linked with major US franchises. He is a keen American Football follower and has previously explored potential bids for both the Washington Commanders and the Seattle Seahawks. To date, though, he is not known to hold a significant stake in any sports team or league.

That would change the moment this Liverpool deal is signed.

Bhatia, by contrast, is already well versed in club ownership. He joined the QPR board and became vice-chairman in 2007 at just 28, after the Mittal family acquired a 20 per cent stake alongside Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore. He later served as QPR chairman from 2018 to 2023 and stayed on as a director and co-owner until earlier this week, when he transferred his stake to majority owner Ruben Gnanalingam.

His sporting reach extends beyond football. Through AyBe Capital, Bhatia is an investor in TGL – the tech-driven golf league fronted by Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods, featuring six teams and some of the world’s top players in a season-long format. AyBe also backs Switch Hitter, the media brand founded by Kevin Pietersen that produces exclusive interviews and content with leading cricketers.

The Mittal family’s footprint is growing too. Earlier this year, Lakshmi Mittal acquired a 75 per cent stake in the Rajasthan Royals IPL franchise, tightening the family’s grip on elite cricket as they now look towards elite football’s upper tier.

A £4.4bn question: what comes next?

The precise timetable remains fluid. The deal was first reported at the end of last month, and talks have accelerated since. An announcement could come as early as this week, though it may slip into next.

What is clear is the scale. A valuation of £4.4bn would cement Liverpool’s status as one of the world’s most valuable clubs – they already rank fourth globally – and drop Bezos, Bhatia and their partners straight into the heart of the Premier League’s financial arms race.

Anfield has seen American owners, private equity and sovereign wealth reshape the landscape around it over the past decade and a half. Now, with one of the planet’s richest men preparing to buy in, the next phase of Liverpool’s story may be written with a different kind of pen – one dipped in tech billions and global ambition.

How that capital is deployed, and how it reshapes the battle at the top of English and European football, will be the questions echoing loudest on the Kop.