Bezos nearing completion of buy-in to liverpool

Jeff Bezos probably won't pay Liverpool any attention, at all. He's part of a consortium. It's not like he would take the whole thing over for vanity project. I don't see that happening.
 
DixieDean said:
Jeff Bezos probably won't pay Liverpool any attention, at all. He's part of a consortium. It's not like he would take the whole thing over for vanity project. I don't see that happening.
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He'll throw them some money occasionally and be all over team pictures when they win something. Won't go beyond that.
 
Read somewhere that this lot have the option to become majority shareholders within the next 12 months.
 
LordSpud said:
The fact that Liverpool have suddenly become the 2nd richest club in England makes me a tiny bit sick.
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We were the “second richest” behind Man City and Chelsea for a long time, we had some success with Sir Alex and then failed miserably under a succession of substandard managers and poor transfer activity.

The Geordies are not pulling up any trees either despite being the “richest”, on paper at least.

Let’s see what happens, Liverpool pissed away a massive amount of money last season and need to do it again to be challengers this.
 
whitbyviking said:
We were the “second richest” behind Man City and Chelsea for a long time, we had some success with Sir Alex and then failed miserably under a succession of substandard managers and poor transfer activity.

The Geordies are not pulling up any trees either despite being the “richest”, on paper at least.

Let’s see what happens, Liverpool pissed away a massive amount of money last season and need to do it again to be challengers this.
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Whether anyone chooses to believe it or not the rules are relaxed slightly on the big 6 clubs compared to the likes of Newcastle
 
LordSpud said:
Whether anyone chooses to believe it or not the rules are relaxed slightly on the big 6 clubs compared to the likes of Newcastle
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Newcastle are rich amateurs. Premier league equivalent of “all the gear and no idea”, but it still doesn’t change the fact they have spent a lot of money comparatively, and haven’t been able to make their largess count in any meaningful way. Compare them to Villa for example, who are manipulating the system far better and arguably had more success
 
whitbyviking said:
The Geordies are not pulling up any trees either despite being the “richest”, on paper at least.
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Anyone who believes that Newcastle are the richest club because they are owned by the PIF should really do some research in to the PIF's current financial situation, there is an interesting article on it in The Guardian from earlier this year that includes the following
the crown prince was in a generous mood on his visit to the White House in November, promising investments of $1tn in the US without offering further details. But behind the scenes, the PIF is said to be running low on cash. Falling oil revenues have drilled an enormous hole in its accounts. Its portfolio is littered with expensive investments that have failed to bear fruit: a cruise line that owns one ship, an electric vehicle business yet to sell a car. International investors are being told that there is no new money available as it undergoes what is euphemistically described as a “restructuring”.
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https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...i-vision-bleak-suspicion-unfulfilled-promises
 
The issue with Newc is that they are not that big of a pull (from a club or city perspective) so unless they pay ridiculous wages (in this age of revenue based squad cost rules not possible) they will not attract the best players to elevate themselves.

Liv have the club pull, like Utd, but the city is behind Manchester (for all intents and purposes the second city in UK) but still for top continental players gets trumped by London. So unless Liv are going to pull up trees with revenues, all the money the owners have, doesn't count for much unless they decide to spend this wealth on infrastructure.
 
RedRocket9908 said:
Anyone who believes that Newcastle are the richest club because they are owned by the PIF should really do some research in to the PIF's current financial situation, there is an interesting article on it in The Guardian from earlier this year that includes the following

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...i-vision-bleak-suspicion-unfulfilled-promises
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PIF have some recent issues, mainly related to the war, also things such as the failing NEOM project, but this doesn’t mean they aren’t rich.

The total value of the PIF assets is something like $1.2trn, with profit figures estimated at &17.3bn. The fund is top 5 of sovereign wealth funds in the world. They aren’t short of money. Saudi are estimated to have the second largest remaining oil reserves in the world too, and despite rising costs their cost of production per barrel still remain very low in comparison to many other locations in the world, with the majority being close to the surface and onshore.

Biggest issue for them seems to be attracting outside investment for their non-oil related ideas, which is causing them to withdraw from or cancel these projects. NEOM for example, in its original format at least, needed more investment to realise the plan than exists in the world currently. Can’t remember the estimates off the top of my head but pretty sure it was $3-4trn.

I’ve done plenty of research on PIF, have also worked for the Saudis too.

In short I suspect PIF are sick of doling out money for very little return, in real terms, and have decided to focus internally when it comes to sport.


Edit - you also did notice I used “richest”
 
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C'est Moi Cantona said:
Read somewhere that this lot have the option to become majority shareholders within the next 12 months.
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There's a lot of rumours/guess work going on at the moment. Nothing from any legitimate sources so far that I've seen confirm what you've posted.

The only thing I've seen is that they have future options to increase their stake but also in the same article (I think it was bbc) Fenway have no intentions of selling the club fully.

Time will tell with all of this, I personally don't see the need to worry about it at this time. Next summer will tell us more of the intentions of how Liverpool will run than anything that's printed.
 
Bezos isn't going to be directly involved. He's investing through a venture capitist fund that forms one part of the consortium led by Amit Bhatia who previously co-owner of QPR.

This isn't some personal vanity project, or sportswashing by a sovereign state. They're in it to make money.
 
Bert_ said:
Bezos isn't going to be directly involved. He's investing through a venture capitist fund that forms one part of the consortium led by Amit Bhatia who previously co-owner of QPR.

This isn't some personal vanity project, or sportswashing by a sovereign state. They're in it to make money.
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Yes. In the grand scheme of things 1bn is cheap for the exposure they get. They practically gets years of amazon plastered all over Liverpool

That alone worth much. Added if they can actually make operational profit from the club. In worst case scenario 10 years from now they sell the club they will still get many benefits and even some profit

No brainer if you have other business to mutually benefit
 
Bought nearly 40% of the club? Interesting move and suggests to me at least a full takeover is not too long in the future
 
croadyman said:
No getting away from the fact this is bad news for us
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I don't think so.
FSG know how to run a sporting organisation. They did an outstanding job at the Boston Red Sox via their Moneyball principles before improving Pool.

I suspect Bezos views Pool as a status symbol purchase. He owns a Lear jet and a luxury yacht, a football club is the next must-have fashion accessory for the super wealthy.
Unlike John Henry of FSG, Bezos doesn't have the expertise to manage a football club. Unless Bezos intends to cheat in the style of Man City, money alone is not enough to succeed in the FFP era.
 
tenpoless said:
So Bezos is gonna sell them scousers for profits?
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Higher ticket prices (stopping scalping so they can pre "scalp" ticket prices), higher merch prices, more expensive hospitality, higher TV subscriptions etc etc. Our owners are doing the same, charging for interviews and friendly matches in ways that was never done before and all the other stuff. Clubs are franchises and fans are customers as these guys look at it.

US based owners expect a return on investment, ultimately football clubs got to generate a profit like NFL teams do. Or the "fantasy land" club valuations collapse.
 
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