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On Friday the news that a consortium featuring Amazon founder Jeff Bezos had taken a 30% stake in Liverpool FC dominated the sports and business headlines. But will 1892 Holdings’s minority stakeholding, acquired for £1.65 billion, lead to a majority deal? Liverpool’s majority shareholder is Fenway Sports Group, which acquired the club in 2010 for just £300 million from Tom Hicks and George Gillett as it struggled financially. FSG, owner of Major League Baseball franchise the Boston Red Sox, insists that the deal with 1892 Holdings – which effectively values Liverpool at £5.5bn – is not part of an exit strategy. Indeed in 2023 FSG sold 3% of the club to global sports investment firm Dynasty Equity for an undisclosed amount. However sources on both sides have confirmed to reporters that the 1892 Holdings deal includes a mechanism which could see the consortium purchase a controlling stake in the club in the next 12 months. There is no concrete commitment to do so on either side. 1892 Holdings – named after the year Liverpool FC was founded – includes British-Indian businessman Amit Bhatia (through the Mittal Family Trust), American Amazon founder Bezos (through K5 Global) and Brazilian Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin (through his family office EE Capital). Bhatia, son-in-law of Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, recently stepped down as co-owner of Queens Park Rangers after 18 years, which allowed him to take part in the Liverpool deal. He has become Liverpool’s vice-chair, with the expanded board also now including Elaine Saverin (wife of Eduardo) and Bryan Baum, co-founder and managing partner of K5 Global. Bezos, worth an estimated $272bn, will not join the Liverpool board. He stepped down as CEO of Amazon in 2021 and has served as executive chairman since that time. He owns aerospace company Blue Origin, venture capital firm Nash Holdings and the Washington Post; he also created AI company Prometheus. Saverin is worth an estimated $33bn while the Mittal family is worth around $17bn. So why has 1892 Holdings invested in Liverpool? And could it be tempted to take a controlling stake? Prior to the deal, Liverpool was already one of 11 teams in the Premier League with American majority shareholders. FSG principal owner John W Henry, chair Tom Werner and president Mike Gordon have driven up the club’s revenue and global presence – particularly in the States – which has proven vital under new sustainability rules which limit a club’s spending to a proportion of its income. They have also overseen the expansion of Anfield beyond a 61,000 capacity; end a 30-year wait to be English champions in 2020 before adding another Premier League title in 2024-25; and become European champions for a sixth time in 2019. Reports suggest they spent almost a year getting to know Bhatia. They see the deal as a way of creating further business, technology and investment opportunities for the brand globally, including in India and Asia. For 1892 Holdings, investing in Liverpool is a chance to align with one of football’s most iconic and fast-growing brands – and perhaps ultimately to own it. Kieran Maguire, Associate Professor in Football Finance at the University of Liverpool management school, told the BBC: “If Bezos et al like the kudos and attention that part-owning as big a brand as Liverpool brings, then a full acquisition becomes a possibility – if the price is right.” However the owners of fellow North West club Manchester City, City Football Group, have taken the approach of welcoming in minority investors without sacrificing their controlling stake. Across Manchester, in 2023 the US-based Glazer family sold a minority stake in United to British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe – a deal which valued the club at $6.3bn. The year before, private equity firm Clearlake Capital and financier Todd Boehly acquired Chelsea FC at a £2.5bn equity value. Whether FSG sell up to 1892 Holdings or not, the opportunity for Liverpool to harness the new investors’ global reach was too good to pass up. Manchester United partner backed by Rio Ferdinand makes $90m claim