14 Aug 2026 21:24:17
FSG have always been open to the right investment opportunities and therefore I chose to believe that FSG did test the waters regarding an exit strategy after Chelsea's forced sale and INEOS investment in Man Utd. This investment may be a result of that "public flirtation" at that time?!
14 Aug 2026 23:29:46
If this is their exit strategy, they have made sure that we have the best and richest owners.
15 Aug 2026 00:27:37
Don't know about the best, defo the richest. I'm not convinced, it is an investment, so they will be looking for a return at some point. The fella who going to become vice chairman, previously of QPR, why didn't he invest in them and get Bezos onboard there?
15 Aug 2026 02:17:04
Scouse John L8 - The football landscape is significantly different to times when buying smaller clubs to try and build them was attractive, i.e. Man City even as recently as 2008.
1. The valuation gap between clubs like Liverpool and QPR is enormous, so only the very richest people can get involved with the biggest clubs now. A 200m profit from selling QPR holdings just isn't worth the time/work compared to potentially billions from Liverpool.
2. FFP rules mean developing a club from QPR's level into an investment that would interest someone like Bezos would require possibly decades of well-executed strategy followed by tangible success. Wealthy owners cannot simply buy success as they used to be able to - certainly not at the level City's owners did. Even clubs like Newcastle have found FFP to have utterly wrecked their plans of dominating (buying) football.
15 Aug 2026 06:40:31
I concur VV.
If I have read the tea leaves correctly, 1892 Holdings will be the new owners sooner than later. The good news is that it's a consortium and not a straight private equity setup, so there won't necessarily be a strict exit timeframe, which PE expects.
The Mittal and Facebook elements of the consortium are family offices, so they can plan as they wish.
The third, and dodgiest element, is K5, which is a PE fund with Bezos as its principal client and investor. They will need to exit within 7-10 years at a profit as per investor agreements.
If there's going to be any disruptive element, it'll come from Baum (K5) being on the board. Keep an eye and ear out on this name in future.