Everton's billionaire owners are looking for new investors after 20 months

The Friedkin Group is looking for outside investors in Everton less than two years after buying the club, according to the Financial Times.

The Texas-based group is working with advisers on a stake sale process that could bring in new shareholders holding a significant share of the club, though it remains at an early stage. Both the Friedkin Group and Everton declined to comment when approached.

Dan Friedkin, Everton's chairman, is worth about $13.4 billion, roughly £9.92 billion, ranking 254th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He is 61 and owns Gulf States Toyota, the vehicle distribution business that made his money. His group also owns the Italian club AS Roma, and his son Ryan is part of it.

The takeover completed on Dec. 19, 2024, when the group acquired 99.5% of Everton from Farhad Moshiri in a transaction believed to be worth more than £400 million. Marc Watts was appointed executive chairman, and Angus Kinnear became chief executive the following May, running the club day to day while the family itself keeps a low profile.

What appears to be driving the search for partners is the cost of competing. Premier League clubs spent more than £3.5 billion on players this summer, and a source with knowledge of the process told the Financial Times it has become an arms race with more firepower entering the league.

Everton did not join it. The club's summer transfer spending of £88 million was the sixth lowest in the division, and it was one of only six clubs to end the window with negative net spend. That is despite the Friedkin wealth and despite financial analysts calculating that the move from Goodison Park to the Hill Dickinson Stadium should generate roughly £60 million a year in additional income.

Supporters noticed, and the frustration sharpened after deadline day.

Friedkin has never attended a match at either Goodison Park or the new stadium. At Roma he has been considerably more visible, making personal visits to meet players and staff.

The group's early work at Everton was financial rather than sporting. It refinanced most of the club's high-cost debt and secured lower-interest facilities against the stadium, stabilising accounts that had deteriorated badly under Moshiri, who bought in during 2016 and watched the club escape relegation repeatedly and take a points deduction for breaching financial rules.

Consortium ownership has become normal across the league as valuations have climbed, so bringing in partners is not by itself a signal of retreat. Friedkin also sold equity in Roundhouse Capital Holdings, the vehicle through which the group controls Everton, in April last year.

Neither the size of the stake being offered nor a target valuation has been reported.