Liverpool owners tipped to sell – but not to Amazon boss Bezos – by former CEO
Liverpool FC’s former CEO Peter Moore believes the club’s owners may be preparing to sell up but has poured cold water on talk of Jeff Bezos buying into the Reds.
Fenway Sports Group is in talks to sell a minority stake to former QPR co-owner Amit Bhatia – a process some reports have suggested could lead to the Americans’ exit from Merseyside.
Moore, who ran Liverpool from 2017 to 2020, pointed to the advancing years of FSG chiefs John Henry and Tom Werner, who are both in their mid-70s.
“I am in my 70s and let me tell you, when you hit 70, you start looking at things a little differently,” he told the Blood Red podcast.
“You go: ‘OK, what is my legacy going to be? How does my estate look? What am I leaving behind for people?’ It sounds somewhat morose but that is how you have to think. It is the responsible thing to do.”
FSG paid just £300m to buy Liverpool 16 years ago, meaning they could cash out with a huge profit. Moore added: “It may well be that you have a club now that is worth £4.5bn.”
Why Jeff Bezos won’t buy Liverpool
Billionaire Amazon founder Bezos has been linked with joining Bhatia’s bid but Silicon Valley-based Moore suspects the world’s fourth richest person has no interest in football.
“Sure, someone sends an email to Jeff Bezos and says: ‘Would you be interested in doing this consortium?’ That doesn’t mean Bezos [will accept],” he told the Liverpool Echo.
“You also have to look at people’s passions because as much as football or sports is a commercial business and high stakes, you need people who understand the culture, understand the pitfalls and are willing to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty.
“And I think that is probably the attraction of Amit Bhatia and the Mittal family generally.
“Jeff has never shown any interest and even if he did, if he put in one percent of his net worth that he is going to throw in here and he can bring his wife, Lauren Sanchez, to Anfield, where she can come to Anfield and the cameras will be on her and she can have a right great time.
“You don’t want or need that [if you’re FSG], so the Bezos thing to me is a red herring.”