Jeff Bezos and consortium in advanced talks to buy 30% stake in Liverpool

The fourth-richest man in the world is trying to buy a stake in your club. Surely that has to be good news?

Yet Liverpool fans, who still bear the scars of the Tom Hicks and George Gillett era, are viewing the potential high-profile investment cautiously.

The man in question is billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who is part of a consortium that is in advanced talks to buy a 30% stake in the club.

Bezos, according to Forbes, has a personal fortune of about $257bn (£190bn).

To put that into context, last year Liverpool announced record revenues of £703m - but Bezos is worth 270 times that.

With scant information about the group's plans or long-term intentions, supporters have cause for caution - especially with the end of the Hicks-Gillett era still vivid in the minds of many.

So who might be the winners from the deal? Will it be the club, the consortium or Liverpool's owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG)?

This is what the investment would mean in reality - and why it could happen.

When FSG bought Liverpool for £300m in 2010 the club were, according to CEO Billy Hogan, "literally on the brink of bankruptcy".

On top of the purchase price, FSG have since facilitated intra-group loans of about £218m, meaning a total outlay of about £518m.

Sixteen years later, the proposed sale of 30% would mean FSG received about £1.4bn, with the club valued at £4.5bn - 13 times what it was worth in 2010 when FSG bought it from Hicks and Gillett.

"It's a great deal for FSG," football finance expert Kieran Maguire told BBC Sport.

"They generate more than £1bn from the deal and still keep control - this represents the best of both worlds."

Such a huge increase in Liverpool's value has required investment off the pitch as well as success on it, including building a new training ground and redeveloping the stadium.

A 30-year title drought was ended in 2019-20, another Premier League was won in 2024-25 and a sixth Champions League was claimed in 2019.

This is not the first time outside money has been accepted by FSG, with global sports investment firm Dynasty Equity purchasing 3% for an undisclosed amount in 2023.

Maguire added: "This follows the approach of City Football Group of letting in minority investors to recoup the original purchase price and more."

But even if the minority investment goes through, the Premier League's Squad Cost Ratio financial rules mean supporters should not expect Liverpool to start spending a lot more on transfer fees.

Funds to spend on transfers are directly related to income generated via commercial activities rather than an owner's wealth.

"The deal could be a straight share sale by FSG to the new group, in which case there would be no financial implications for the club itself," Maguire added.

Bezos stepped down as CEO of Amazon five years ago but remains one of the company's biggest shareholders.

He also owns aerospace company Blue Origin, venture capital firm Nash Holdings and the Washington Post. More recently he created Prometheus, an artificial intelligence company which last month invested £330m in a British AI start-up.

As if to underline the scale of his financial resources, only last week he filed to sell 15 million of his remaining Amazon shares with a market value of about £3.1bn - double the value of the consortium's offer for a stake in Liverpool.

Bezos has been linked with sports investment for some time, but usually American sports franchises which are either more expensive or not open to offers.

He was reportedly interested in the Seattle Seahawks, who were sold for £7.3bn recently. The Washington Commanders, another NFL franchise said to be of interest, were sold for £4.6bn in 2023.

Buying a stake in Liverpool would give the 62-year-old a slice of one of the most iconic global sports brands for a small fraction of his fortune.

But would Liverpool be a status symbol or a true investment?

It is not as if Liverpool are unknown in the United States, either. Research company GWI has reported that Liverpool have 26 million supporters in the US, and the fastest-growing fan base.

It is no surprise, then, that the Reds had their pre-season tour in the States.

The deal would continue a theme of US investment into the Premier League, with 11 of the 20 teams this season having majority control from America - Liverpool included.

That's not to mention Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney at Wrexham, and Tom Brady's Birmingham, in the Championship.

FSG bought into Liverpool at the most opportune time, with the club struggling financially.

But even at this point Hogan says there is "a huge opportunity still" to invest in "the biggest and most popular sport in the world".

It taps into the reason why US money continues to pour into the English game - namely prestige, and the chance to grow not just in this country but around the world too.

Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, who is reported to be worth $32bn (£23.7bn), is also involved is the consortium.

Then there is Amit Bhatia, who had been a director and co-owner of Queens Park Rangers for the last 18 years until he relinquished his ownership stake in the Championship club on 21 July.

It is against Football Association regulations to have a substantial interest in more than one club, so the timing of Bhatia's move appeared to confirm he is involved in the Liverpool deal.

Hogan has suggested there is no prospect of FSG entertaining a full sale of the club, but Maguire believes if the initial investment goes well, that could change.

"If Bezos et al like the kudos and attention that part-owning as big a brand as Liverpool brings," Maguire said.

"Then a full acquisition becomes a possibility, if the price is right."

Liverpool fans consider the club to have a specific set of values, centred around its working-class roots.

When FSG attempted to raise season ticket prices last season, fans' group Spirit of Shankly (SOS) launched a campaign called 'Not a Pound in the Ground'.

It urged fans to buy food and drink from local businesses in the Anfield area rather than inside the stadium. It worked, forcing the club to cut the size of their planned price rise.

SOS has doubts about the proposed investment and has raised a number of concerns.

"We would like to know what the buying consortium will get in return for their 30% stake," an SOS spokesperson told BBC Sport.

"Specifically, what would be the level of involvement in the control of the club and will they take a seat or seats on the board?

"And of huge importance, what due diligence is being done on the potential consortium of investors?

"Does this potential consortium have the best interests of the club at the forefront or is it a 'trophy' buy?"

SOS' ethos is in contrast to the concerns that have been raised over the way Amazon workers have been treated.

A Trades Union Congress report issued in 2020 highlighted "long, gruelling shifts with unreasonable productivity targets and unfair shift patterns" and "unacceptable working conditions".

In 2024, more than 200 workers took part in two days of strike action at the Amazon site in Birmingham as part of a long-running dispute over pay and union rights. Amazon said it regularly reviews its pay to ensure it offers competitive wages.

In February this year, the Washington Post announced it would be laying off one-third of its work force, sharply scaling back the paper's coverage of sports and foreign news.

Gareth Roberts, Liverpool season ticket holder and host of the Late Challenge LFC podcast, told BBC Sport he had concerns.

"How Amazon have treated unions and workers isn't particularly palatable," Roberts said. "Is he simply going to ramp up the name of Liverpool in order to make as much money as possible?"

The painful experience of the Hicks-Gillett ownership endures, hence the reluctance to throw support behind this possible new investment without more information.

"People wonder why Liverpool fans do scrutinise things like this so much," Roberts added. "We only have to wind back to the ownership of Hicks and Gillett to see why.

"They put Liverpool in dire straits, in a financially unsustainable position.

"We want the club to be run well, we want the club to be run sustainably and we want people to care about it and to care about the fans. It's as simple as that."

So while the investment would give Liverpool some very wealthy new co-owners, it wouldn't necessarily make a marked different to their spending power - and might sit uneasily with at least some of the club's fans.