American billionaire Jeff Bezos is buying into Liverpool at a record $7 billion valuation

Fenway Sports Group has agreed to sell roughly 30 percent of Liverpool Football Club to a consortium including Jeff Bezos and Eduardo Saverin, at a valuation of just over $7 billion that sets a record for an investment in a football club.

The buyers operate as 1892 Holdings and are led by Amit Bhatia, the British investor and son-in-law of the steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, who until recently held shares in the Championship club Queens Park Rangers. The Mittal family trusts are participating alongside him. Bezos is investing through the K5 Sports fund, and EE Capital, which manages the assets of the Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin and his wife Elaine, is taking a separate stake.

FSG announced the definitive agreement on Friday and said it retains majority ownership and operational control of the club. Completion depends on regulatory approval.

The valuation exceeds the roughly $5.8 billion enterprise value at which Jim Ratcliffe bought into Manchester United in 2024, and represents a substantial return for FSG, which acquired Liverpool in 2010 for £300 million, about $476 million at exchange rates of the time. CNBC's 2026 global soccer team valuations had ranked Liverpool fourth in the world at $6 billion.

Bhatia will become Liverpool's vice chairman and join an expanded board. Bezos will not take a board seat, though Bryan Baum of K5 Sports and Elaine Saverin will, according to people familiar with the arrangement. The investment group declined to comment on board composition.

"Liverpool has always been built by thinking beyond one season and making decisions with the club's long-term interests in mind," said Mike Gordon, FSG's president. He said it had become clear during negotiations that Bhatia and the consortium shared the group's long-term philosophy and understood what makes Liverpool distinctive.

Bhatia said 1892 Holdings held considerable respect for what FSG had achieved at Anfield, and described being welcomed as a partner in a club of that stature as a privilege.

Sky Sports reported that Friday's agreement includes a framework for future investment from the consortium, while stressing that the existence of such a framework does not guarantee any further transaction. CNBC reported that the group holds an option to become controlling owner.

The deal marks Bezos's first investment in a sports property. He had previously examined bids for the Seattle Seahawks and the Washington Commanders in the National Football League and pursued neither. Forbes puts his net worth at $272 billion, built on Amazon, where he remains executive chairman after stepping down as chief executive in 2021. He also owns the Washington Post and the space company Blue Origin. Saverin is worth about $33 billion.

The transaction lands in the middle of a busy period for sports ownership among the very wealthy. Bob Iger, the former Disney chief executive, and Josh Kushner announced a $12.5 billion agreement to buy the Los Angeles Lakers earlier this week.

Liverpool's existing ownership already includes a figure from a different industry. LeBron James held 2 percent of the club before converting that holding into a partnership in Fenway Sports Group in April 2021, alongside his long-standing business associates Maverick Carter and Paul Wachter and the investment firm RedBird Capital. That transaction valued FSG at $7.35 billion and gave James exposure to the Boston Red Sox, a sports management firm, a regional sports network and Roush Fenway Racing in addition to Liverpool.

The club James bought into is worth considerably more now than it was then, though FSG has not disclosed how the new sale affects individual partners' holdings.

The timing follows a difficult summer at Anfield. Liverpool won the Premier League in 2025, its 20th league title, and has since lost manager Arne Slot and the forward Mohamed Salah, leaving the squad in transition.

Corestone Capital Advisors introduced the parties and helped arrange the 1892 Holdings investment. Allen Overy Shearman Sterling advised FSG and Liverpool with support from Deloitte. Latham & Watkins acted for 1892 Holdings alongside PricewaterhouseCoopers and Moelis & Company. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton advised the K5 Sports fund and Bezos, and Clifford Chance advised EE Capital.

Neither FSG nor the consortium disclosed what each investor is contributing.