Bezos nearing completion of buy-in to liverpool

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FriedClams said:
How do the Liverpool fans feel about this?

@RobinLFC @Klopper76
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Dunno, find it hard to form an opinion on this. I also don't really have a clue where Bezos fits in on the spectrum of "evil billionnaire" - John W. Henry is also a billionnaire, so is Jim Ratcliffe, Stan Kroenke, ... Also no idea whether Bezos views this as his new shiny toy to win titles with and has a genuine interest in football or whether he's just after asset appreciation. But you usually don't become a top 5 richest guy on the planet by blowing away millions/billions, so I guess we'll see how it unfolds. In general I don't like the idea of "our" game being owned by foreign billionnaires but the reality is what it is and if you don't play ball you get left behind, even though FSG have mostly been okay owners who just struck gold with Klopp's appointment.
 
His is bald so this won't go well, they should have learned their lesson after Slop.
 
I was just thinking, if Bezos was brought onboard for the exposure. They could do a Wrexham type series on Amazon and really get Americans flooding Liverpool. There’s huge opportunity to grow the finances
 
golden_blunder said:
I was just thinking, if Bezos was brought onboard for the exposure. They could do a Wrexham type series on Amazon and really get Americans flooding Liverpool. There’s huge opportunity to grow the finances
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Until they actually arrive in Liverpool.
And go straight home again
 
golden_blunder said:
I was just thinking, if Bezos was brought onboard for the exposure. They could do a Wrexham type series on Amazon and really get Americans flooding Liverpool. There’s huge opportunity to grow the finances
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I can't see this happening really, the romance with Wrexham are the guys that bought it are quite likeable and the journey is the story

The Purley King said:
Until they actually arrive in Liverpool.
And go straight home again
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Ive been to Wrexham for work a few times it's a shit hole also they still go there
 
Bastian said:
Another cultural institution ruined. I don't fear them having a bottomless pit of money or any such thing. I just think this foreign ownership is destroying the English game. There are objectionable parties and then there are enormously objectionable parties, and this is clearly the latter.

What do their supporters think?
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Not many people are aware of it but Liverpool have a strong historical connection to Amazon due to the number of Scousers who roam around the country pinching people's doorstep deliveries.
 
brozonis said:
But why does a guy who is worth $200+ billion do this? He's much, much richer than the glazers. Even if he makes money, It will be peanuts to him and he probably could get more just investing in a general fund

There must be some element of pride, status symbol, or passion project involved. If his ego gets tied up in it, he could easily get sucked into investing a lot.
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How do you think Billioniares make money and remain Billionaires?

They invest in other businesses and/or buy assets, Bezos probably doesn't want to run it, he's "Mr Amazon" but actually owns about 8.8% of it nowadays and he has very little to do with the day-to-day running of it
 
Red in STL said:
How do you think Billioniares make money and remain Billionaires?

They invest in other businesses and/or buy assets, Bezos probably doesn't want to run it, he's "Mr Amazon" but actually owns about 8.8% of it nowadays and he has very little to do with the day-to-day running of it
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Don't think a guy who owns 8.8% of amazon needs to invest in Liverpool to remain a billionaire
 
Bezos probably has no idea what Liverpool FC is. Just another one on the list of investments the fund he's bought into has made.
 
Bert_ said:
Bezos probably has no idea what Liverpool FC is. Just another one on the list of investments the fund he's bought into has made.
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Yeah. Bezos is just part of the consortium, which is actually lead by Amit Bhatia, the son-in-law of Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal. But everybody wants to make it sound as if Bezos is the main figure...

May not be a critical thing, but let's just say it is "interesting", for a variety of reasons...
 
AndySmith1990 said:
Don't think a guy who owns 8.8% of amazon needs to invest in Liverpool to remain a billionaire
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Of course he doesn't, but neither do any billionaires, it's just the way they think, and if it wasn't Bezos it would be someone else
 
These guys want a $ return, they're not doing it for fun. It'll mean higher ticket, merch, shirt prices. The fans pay.

Same as our and Utd owners have done. I doubt they'll be worse than private equity, racking billions in debt up like BlueCo or leveraged buyout guys like the Glazers.
 
Mr Pigeon said:
Not many people are aware of it but Liverpool have a strong historical connection to Amazon due to the number of Scousers who roam around the country pinching people's doorstep deliveries.
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Can be rebranded the Liverpool (Porch) Pirates for an American audience
 
Doesn’t feel like a big deal. Sky and ITV minority states in a lot of clubs back in the 90s. If the intention was to buy the club and run it successfully and then it would’ve just been brought out right there’s no need for someone with that level of wealth to incrementally increase a stake again to as you may expect in a leverage buyout.
 
Bastian said:
Another cultural institution ruined. I don't fear them having a bottomless pit of money or any such thing. I just think this foreign ownership is destroying the English game. There are objectionable parties and then there are enormously objectionable parties, and this is clearly the latter.

What do their supporters think?
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Yes Amazon is getting pretty shit these days...terrible customer service, poor use of AI and they have just lost loads of good people on the software side.

I can see Amazon becoming the first of the big software companies to fail if he doesn't get his mind off going into space and resets the agenda for his core business.

Maybe Liverpool will be the vanity project that breaks the camels back!
 
I don't wanna be owned by a state or by a Bezos, but I don't want our rivals to either. Worst timeline ever.
 
NewGlory said:
Yeah. Bezos is just part of the consortium, which is actually lead by Amit Bhatia, the son-in-law of Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal. But everybody wants to make it sound as if Bezos is the main figure...

May not be a critical thing, but let's just say it is "interesting", for a variety of reasons...
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It’s daft, isn’t it? Classic media half truth.

“Jeff Bezos has a minor stake in a consortium buying a a minority stake in Liverpool” is a lot less appealing as a headline that “Bezos Primed to Drop the Lot on Kop” with an article underneath saying “How Liverpool could line up…” and it has Mbappe, Olise and Yamal in the starting XI.
 
IrwinwasbetterthanCarlos said:
It’s daft, isn’t it? Classic media half truth.

“Jeff Bezos has a minor stake in a consortium buying a a minority stake in Liverpool” is a lot less appealing as a headline that “Bezos Primed to Drop the Lot on Kop” with an article underneath saying “How Liverpool could line up…” and it has Mbappe, Olise and Yamal in the starting XI.
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100% yeap
 
The gap is only going to get bigger now. Liverpool will be making huge investments in their squad while we continue to look for bargains. Jim has done nothing but help the Glazers stay in control. We’re fecked as long as INEOS and the Glazers remain at the club.
 
Football as a community, fan driven sport is kind of dead and buried really, isn't it?
Its a play thing for billionaires and tyrants.
 
caid said:
Football as a community, fan driven sport is kind of dead and buried really, isn't it?
Its a play thing for billionaires and tyrants.
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Don’t try to pull that on me, I played football with my daughters today (and lost). Football, like art, transcends capitalist or despotic ownership claims.
 
Bert_ said:
Bezos probably has no idea what Liverpool FC is. Just another one on the list of investments the fund he's bought into has made.
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Nonsense. As a younger man he used to stand on the Kop and it was John Barnes delivery to Ian Rush that guided him in to getting in to the fast delivery business.
 
I did wonder if it was a bit like that episode of Succession and one of his family members has bought it as a gift.
 
HTG said:
Difficult to say. It depends on Bezos‘ intentions. If he just wants to make profit, it could actually be similar to what the Glazers do to United. But if it is more like a personal hobby, he could flood them with cash.
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The kind of profit he can make from Football is absolute peanuts to him , don't think that is his primary motivation here. There are easier ways for him to invest and make a lot more money with a lot less risk.

No doubt his intention is to eventually take a majority share , as with the space stuff between him and Musk , once these billionaire get to a certain level been seen as a winner and best in class and ego is more important motivator than money when you already have hundreds of billions in the bank.

When he takes control he won't want to be associated in such a public way with a club that is not best in class.
 
Klopper76 said:
I’m not a fan of billionaires like Bezos personally. I hate the way the game is going. Feels like it’ll be horrible 20 years from now.

John Henry will make a killing on his original investment.
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It's horrible now. At this point I'd love to see it all burn to the ground. 500k a week wages, 100+ mil transfers, super agents, state owned clubs... the game is riddled with cancer. Burn it all down.
 
Not into Bezos buying in but I guess I can’t fault FSG selling a stake and making a profit. It’s the way world is and they did rescue us from H and G and took away debt and in the process hired Klopp and brought us back from the brink. Nothing like being debt free except for some capital projects. I guess it’s better than being state owned or swamped in debt.
 
Betson said:
The kind of profit he can make from Football is absolute peanuts to him , don't think that is his primary motivation here. There are easier ways for him to invest and make a lot more money with a lot less risk.

No doubt his intention is to eventually take a majority share , as with the space stuff between him and Musk , once these billionaire get to a certain level been seen as a winner and best in class and ego is more important motivator than money when you already have hundreds of billions in the bank.

When he takes control he won't want to be associated in such a public way with a club that is not best in class.
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People honestly believe he's in it for the relative pennies on the dollar return compared to what that kind of wealth brings in every day or the myriad ways he can make more money.

The fun part is the infiltration and escalation before becoming a majority stakeholder and using the club as a toy that will eventually make him a fortune whilst furthering his ambitions. I'll wager this will be the first step in manoeuvring away from a collective TV deal, as a start.
 
Fortitude said:
People honestly believe he's in it for the relative pennies on the dollar return compared to what that kind of wealth brings in every day or the myriad ways he can make more money.

The fun part is the infiltration and escalation before becoming a majority stakeholder and using the club as a toy that will eventually make him a fortune whilst furthering his ambitions. I'll wager this will be the first step in manoeuvring away from a collective TV deal, as a start.
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That's right.
Bezos doesn't do minority. It isn't a buy in. It will be a buy out.
 
Chelsea, City and even Arsenal have had higher net spend than Real Madrid in recent years, yet Madrid have won more Champions Leagues.

Money alone doesn’t guarantee success. Good scouting, recruitment and players wanting to join matter just as much—sometimes spending too much can even backfire, as Chelsea shows.

Fans love history and smart signings, but ultimately, most would rather have a sugar daddy than watch their club suffer.

Having said that, 50 years from now, there is a chance many people will mostly remember the trophies, not how they were won. They’ll see the titles, not the oil money, spending or questionable dealings behind them.
 
Bobby_2024 said:
Chelsea, City and even Arsenal have had higher net spend than Real Madrid in recent years, yet Madrid have won more Champions Leagues.

Money alone doesn’t guarantee success. Good scouting, recruitment and players wanting to join matter just as much—sometimes spending too much can even backfire, as Chelsea shows.

Fans love history and smart signings, but ultimately, most would rather have a sugar daddy than watch their club suffer.

Having said that, 50 years from now, there is a chance many people will mostly remember the trophies, not how they were won. They’ll see the titles, not the oil money, spending or questionable dealings behind them.
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If you consider that Real Madrid pay the highest wages in Europe by far and have also easily signed 300m+ worth of players on a free over the last few years in Mbappé, TAA and others it’s really not as strong of an argument as you think.

Obviously you can spend endless amounts of money and never be successful. But a lot of money + smart recruitment obviously beats just smart recruitment. And wages are arguably even more important than transfer fees. Even the likes of Brighton have started to spend big fees but they can’t compete with the big clubs on wages.

As for the last bit, unfortunately I dont think you have to wait 50 years. You can already see kids in Haaland shirts all across the world and I’m sure they have no idea about the regime funding that success.
 
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jadajos said:
If you consider that Real Madrid pay the highest wages in Europe by far and have also easily signed 300m+ worth of players on a free over the last few years in Mbappé, TAA and others it’s really not as strong of an argument as you think.
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Still Real winning trophies with just 9M euros net debt (They have loan for stadium rebuilt but it is a long term investment and the revenue they generate itself will clear that loan in few years), In the end they are still winning things with their own earned money, about signing free deals I would call it as a smart business.
 
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