NBA superstar, LeBron James has increased his ownership stake in English Premiership club Liverpool, making the basketball star part of the Premier league’s ownership group.
Owners of Liverpool since 2010, Fenway Sport Group (FSG) announced that James and long-time business associates Maverick Carter and Paul Wachter had become partners in the Boston-based global sports, entertainment, and real estate platform, along with RedBird Capital.
The 36-year-old basketballer previously held a 2% stake in Liverpool, but now will have a bigger share in the Premier League team as well as a stake in Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox, a sports management firm, a regional sports cable network, and Roush Fenway Racing of the popular stock car racing series, NASCAR .
The investment and accompanying transactions value the group at $7.35 billion (6.26 billion euros), and the Boston Globe reported that it is a $750 million (639 million euros) investment.
The new investment is expected to allow Liverpool to recover from the financial pressures of the coronavirus pandemic.
Over the years, Fenway Sports Group has been able to attract a dedicated group of executives and partnerships seeking to compete for titles in the most challenging and rewarding landscapes
Speaking about the new deal, FSG principal owner John W. Henry, chairman Tom Werner and President Mike Gordon in a joint statement released on Wednesday said;
We are pleased to welcome to our ownership group LeBron, Maverick and Paul, with whom we have enjoyed a successful collaboration for well over a decade. Their addition is an important milestone for FSG and expands and deepens a long-time friendship and relationship that began in 2010. To our fans and supporters: Winning continues to be the driving force for all of us.
Henry and his colleagues further expresed:
The growth of FSG as an organisation allows us to further strengthen our resources and commitment to the communities we serve, and we look forward to having these talented new partners join us in the next chapter of FSG’s evolution.
The new investment will help Liverpool‘s expansion plans go ahead for their home ground, Anfield. The club has proposed a new Anfield Road stand that would increase the ground’s capacity to about 61,000.
