What’s the Latest Update on Jeff Bezos Buying Liverpool FC?

When you’re Jeff Bezos, headlines featuring your name and big figures don’t really faze you, but any undertaking that involves billions of dollars is still, by definition, huge. And the Amazon founder, who stepped down as CEO of the company in 2021, is now reportedly looking for a new challenge. And that challenge might come in the shape of a Premier League football team.

Sky News reports that a consortium including Bezos is closing in on a deal to buy a one-third stake in Liverpool Football Club. The deal also includes Eduardo Saverin, one of the co-founders of the social network platform Facebook. It is led by Amit Bhatia, the son-in-law of steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal and a former shareholder in Championship club Queens Park Rangers, in the second tier of the English football league system.

Related: Jeff Bezos’ Ex-Wife Suffers Financial-Related Loss as His New Wife Pushes Him to ‘Take Control’ Instead of ‘Staying Silent’

Previously, The Guardian reported that the consortium had made a provisional offer of $1.8 billion to buy a stake in Liverpool from Fenway Sports Group, which owns the team as well as the Boston Red Sox, NASCAR’s RFK Racing, and Boston Common Golf. There are no specifics about how much Bezos has contributed or whether he would have any operational control in the club.

Bezos is worth around $280 billion, while Saverin is worth at least $32 billion. The group’s investment in the club will reportedly value Liverpool at $6 billion.

A spokesperson for Fenway Sports Group (FSG), the club’s controlling shareholder since 2010, said last month: “An investment consortium led, managed, and represented by Amit Bhatia has expressed interest in making a strategic minority investment in Liverpool Football Club.”

This isn’t the first time Bezos has been tied to a sporting franchise. There had previously been reports that Bezos was interested in being part-owner of the Seattle Seahawks. But now it seems he’s turned to a different sport altogether.

All of this comes after a new report from CNBC about Bezos’ true feelings about Amazon. Back in 2018, Bezos had one message for his employees during an all-hands meeting: the company will eventually go bankrupt. “I predict one day Amazon will fail. Amazon will go bankrupt,” Bezos stated. “If you look at large companies, their lifespans tend to be 30-plus years, not a hundred-plus years.”

His plan to prevent it?  “Obsess over customers.”

“If we start to focus on ourselves, instead of focusing on our customers, that will be the beginning of the end,” Bezos continued. “We have to try and delay that day for as long as possible.”