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John Henry cashes in on Liverpool franchise

John Henry just cashed in. A group of investors backed by Jeff Bezos has put a $7bn valuation on Liverpool Football Club. Amit Bhatia — son-in-law of steel tycoon and billionaire Lakshmi Mittal — a Bezos-backed fund and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin are buying more than 30 per cent of the English Premier League team.

It’s a huge return for Henry’s Fenway Sports Group, which bought Liverpool for about £300mn in 2010 when the club was in crisis. Shrewder still, considering Henry bought Liverpool five years after the Glazers took control of Manchester United for £790mn in a leveraged buyout.

The new shareholders say something about the future of Liverpool and elite football. They’re globally minded, have deep pools of capital, with insights into key geographies and business trends.

Under Fenway, Liverpool’s revenues surged from about £184mn in 2010-11 to north of £700mn in 2024-25. But Premier League clubs aren’t going to grow by fixating on their home market.  Broadcast deals are negotiated centrally by the league, which already generates more internationally than domestically.

Local supporters protest when Fenway increases ticket prices. In any case, the heavy lifting was done by expanding Anfield, the club’s home stadium.

So what about the next leg of growth?

Liverpool’s growing presence in the US is important. Following the World Cup, the North America factor should only grow. India and the rest of Asia arguably require a different profile of owner to Fenway. Enter Bhatia, who cut his teeth at second-tier team QueensPark Rangers — and Mittal money.

How Liverpool and Red Sox owner John Henry won it all

He turned a commodities fortune into a sporting empire. Now sovereign wealth is rewriting the rules of the game, Then you have Brazil-born, Singapore-based Saverin, someone who understands social media and has a multidimensional background, including a Harvard education. Bezos’s understanding of ecommerce and content delivery needs no introduction.

That’s the knowhow for a new growth phase. Online content and memberships for global fans who will never make it to Anfield. But traditional local football supporters will rebel if they think new ideas go against the ethos of Liverpool. Remember the European Super League?

Nor is global growth easy to come by. Remember football’s search for the “Asian fan”?

Liverpool’s new shareholders must show they can deliver.
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