- The proposed deal could value Liverpool at about £4.4 billion.
- Jeff Bezos and Eduardo Saverin are among the investors in Bhatia's consortium.
- Bhatia has previous football experience through Queens Park Rangers.
Amit Bhatia is leading a billionaire-backed bid to buy roughly 30 per cent of Liverpool Football Club, putting the British-Indian businessman at the centre of a proposed £1.35 billion investment in one of English football's biggest clubs.
The consortium is negotiating with Fenway Sports Group (FSG), Liverpool's controlling shareholder since 2010, and includes Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin. Reports suggest the deal could value Liverpool at around £4.4 billion, although the transaction has not yet been formally completed.
Bhatia's role is significant. While Bezos is the biggest name attached to the consortium, it is Bhatia who is leading the group and fronting negotiations for the minority stake.
The proposed investment would give the consortium about 30 per cent of Liverpool while leaving FSG in control of the club.
From QPR to Liverpool
Bhatia is not new to football ownership.
The 46-year-old businessman previously held a stake in Queens Park Rangers and served as a director and chairman of the Championship club. His involvement with QPR began after the Mittal family invested in the club.
He is married to Vanisha Mittal Bhatia, daughter of steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, although his own career has been built around investment and finance.
Bhatia runs AyBe Capital, a multi-asset investment firm that invests across sectors including technology, media, property, consumer businesses and healthcare. His investment interests have also extended into sports.
That football background could make the Liverpool proposal a more natural progression than a first-time move into the sport.
Bezos, meanwhile, would bring a very different kind of profile to the consortium.
The Amazon founder has a personal fortune running into hundreds of billions of pounds and remains executive chairman of the technology giant after stepping down as chief executive in 2021. Amazon has also built a sizeable sports business through its streaming platform, including Premier League rights in the UK in previous years and NFL coverage in the US.
Saverin, another member of the consortium, co-founded Facebook and is also a billionaire investor.
Together, the three names give the proposed Liverpool investment a striking mix of football, technology and private capital.
A much bigger bet than FSG's first deal
The numbers show how dramatically Liverpool's value has changed since FSG took control.
The US investment group bought Liverpool for about £300 million in 2010, when the club was facing serious financial difficulties. The proposed transaction would value the club at almost 15 times that figure.
FSG has retained control while bringing in minority investment. In 2023, US private equity firm Dynasty Equity acquired about 3 per cent of Liverpool, in a deal that valued the club at more than £3.3 billion.
The proposed Bhatia-led investment would be considerably larger.
It also comes during a period of change at Anfield. Andoni Iraola has replaced Arne Slot as head coach, Mohamed Salah has left for Trabzonspor and Michael Edwards has departed his role as FSG's chief executive.
For FSG, bringing in another major minority investor could provide fresh capital while allowing the group to retain control of the club.
For Bhatia, it would represent a significant step up from his previous involvement with QPR and place him at the centre of a multi-billion-pound Premier League business.
The deal is still subject to completion, so the final terms and ownership structure could change. But if it goes through, the most important detail may not be that Bezos is entering English football.
It will be that Bhatia is the businessman bringing the group together.
