Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos has reportedly discussed the possibility of joining a consortium which is pushing to buy a stake in Liverpool.British-Indian businessman Amit Bhatia is leading a group of financiers which is in talks to make a ‘strategic minority investment’ in the Premier League giants.As reported by Daily Mail Sport yesterday, Bhatia, the son-in-law of Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, is pushing for a deal with owners Fenway Sports Group that could take the club’s value above £4.5billion ($6bn). Now, though, Sky News reports that Bezos has been approached to join the consortium and has held discussions about working with Bhatia and the rest of the group. FSG and Bezos have been approached for comment.FSG took control of Liverpool in 2010 in a £300million deal and have since proven effective owners, giving the club the support they needed to win two Premier League titles and a sixth Champions League. Liverpool are largely self-sufficient, meaning FSG have not had to invest much – figures published by the Athletic in 2024 indicated that they had only pumped in £136m. It remains uncertain whether Bezos, 62, will help fund a stake in the Premier League team. Bezos is ranked by Forbes as the fourth richest man in the world. He has a net worth of $256.9bn (£194.9bn). Jeff Bezos has reportedly discussed the possibility of joining a consortium which is pushing to buy a stake in Liverpool Businessman Amit Bhatia is part of the consortium in talks to buy a small stake in the Premier League giantsJoin the discussionShould mega-rich investors like Bezos be allowed to buy into iconic football clubs like Liverpool?What’s your view?As reported by Sky News, the Amazon founder has previously considered bidding for the Seattle Seahawks – the reigning Super Bowl champions – and their NFL rivals, the Washington Commanders.However, on neither occasion did Bezos proceed with a deal.Bhatia, meanwhile, was co-owner at Championship side Queens Park Rangers. He has a stand named after him at the club’s stadium, Loftus Road, but surprisingly stepped down from the QPR ownership setup yesterday.A spokesman for Fenway Sports Group said in a statement: ‘An investment consortium led, managed, and represented by Amit Bhatia has expressed interest in making a strategic minority investment in Liverpool Football Club.’Nothing is official yet and, if it was to proceed, it would follow a similar structure to a deal made three years ago when FSG sold a small stake to sports investment firm Dynasty.Bezos founded Amazon in 1994, originally operating it out of his garage. It now has a revenue of $716bn (£534.83bn) – the most of any company in the world – and employs almost 1.6million staff. FSG has 33 partners including principal owner John W Henry, chairman Tom Werner, president Michael Gordon, as well as NBA legend LeBron James. They have typically ceded a reasonable amount of influence to managers, being nowhere near as interfering in day-to-day affairs like the owners of Chelsea, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital. Fans have often been frustrated that the club have not taken off the handbrake in the transfer window. The usual policy is for the club to be financially sustainable. Andoni Iraola manages the Premier League giants, who are currently on tour in the USA The world’s richest people *According to Forbes1) Elon Musk $794.5B net worth (£593.59bn)2) Larry Page – $284.5B net worth (£212.57bn)3) Sergey Brin – $262.4B net worth (£196.05bn)4) Jeff Bezos – $256.9B net worth (£191.94bn)5) Michael Dell – $228.4B net worth (£170.65bn) <!- – ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/us/sport/football/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 – ->
Last summer, they sanctioned the biggest transfer window spend by a Premier League club ever, £446m, though their club revenues had freed up space for that under Profit & Sustainability Rules. Liverpool are currently in Chicago as they begin their pre-season tour of the USA. Andoni Iraola’s side play Sunderland in Nashville on Saturday, followed by Wrexham in New York and Leeds back in Chicago, before returning home at the start of August.Reds fans are excited to see defender Jeremy Jacquet, who signed from Rennes for £60m in January, but more incomings are anticipated. It has been a slow summer at Anfield – the only other arrival is £34.5m World Cup winner Victor Munoz from Osasuna. Iraola has identified two areas of concern and has issued an indirect appeal to transfer chiefs to kick on with summer plans.’It is difficult to say a number when the market is open,’ said the Basque. ‘You have to be always open to new options to improve the squad.’There are obvious situations where we know we need to sign players. Winger, for example. We definitely need to sign a winger. In other situations, we will have to analyse what the market gives you, what the cost is, how we see the players we have.’We have some tricky positions where we have injured players that we trust that are not in the ideal situation. It depends on a lot of things.’Iraola also said Liverpool are ‘very thin’ in terms of defensive depth, with Conor Bradley out for several months more yet after a long-term knee injury.Asked about potential exits, Iraola insisted Alisson will remain No 1 after intense interest from Juventus earlier in the window and admitted he also wants to keep World Cup runner-up Alexis Mac Allister.The Reds manager said: ‘Alexis has been one of the best players of the club in the last years.’He has had a very good World Cup so it is normal that other clubs want our best players. It always happens in the market. I want to keep my good players. I am looking more to sign new players than losing the ones we have.’