Jeff Bezos's planned investment in Liverpool has generated plenty of headlines and raised even more questions. Why does the Amazon founder, who is worth $257bn (£190bn) according to Forbes, want to be involved in a Premier League football club? Prestige? To generate even more wealth? Why are owners Fenway Sports Group open to selling a third of the club? Why now? And could this be the first step on the road to a full takeover?
To some it also sparked a question about a potential conflict of interest, given Bezos's ties to Amazon and the company's involvement in broadcasting the competition. However, as Mirror Football will explain, there are no such issues stopping the American from pumping a tiny fraction of his cash into Liverpool.
Amazon's broadcasting history
Amazon, via its branding as Prime Video, had live broadcast rights in the UK for 20 Premier League games each season for six seasons until the winter of 2024. The streaming giant then opted out of a bidding war with Sky Sports and TNT Sports for the next four-year cycle, which is worth £6.7bn to the Premier League. They backed out after the Premier League changed the broadcast packages available to purchase, getting rid of the smallest 20-game per season one. Amazon had paid around £30m per season for that package, using it as an incentive to try and drive subscriptions to Prime.
Amazon customers in other countries still watch top-flight matches via Prime Video, but they do not currently have a direct relationship with the Premier League itself. This is because Amazon are sub-licencing the rights from Viaplay in the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark.
Ownership and regulatory considerations
That means there is a degree of separation between Amazon, Bezos and the Premier League. And there is another: Bezos relinquished day-to-day control of the tech giant in 2021. However, the 62-year-old is now the executive chair of the company, is still the largest shareholder and is involved in decision-making at the top of the company.
A scan of the Premier League handbook, which sets out the competition's rules and regulations, shows that Bezos should not have any other trouble passing the Owners' and Directors' Test, should the deal for Liverpool go ahead. Despite rumoured attempts to buy NFL franchises, Seattle Seahawks and Washington Commanders, he has never been involved in sports, so doesn't have any worrying previous for the Premier League to scrutinise.
Consortium's careful approach
The consortium clearly considered such issues before making their approach to FSG. Businessman Amit Bhatia, who is fronting the group, had to relinquish his ownership stake in Championship side QPR in July in order to proceed with talks to invest in Liverpool, due to rules against having financial interests in more than one club. He transferred his stake in the London club to majority owner Ruben Gnanalingam. Bhatia was involved with QPR for 18 years as director and co-owner, so would not take such a step lightly. It is therefore clear that his plans to bring together Bezos and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin were already developed.
The deal with FSG for Liverpool is far too valuable for the consortium to risk losing it by falling foul of the Premier League's rules. While there are not anticipated to be any regulatory issues, the deal will still take a significant amount of time to go through.
