Jeff Bezos warned why $6bn Liverpool part-takeover talks carry a major risk

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Amazon founder Jeff Bezos could soon become one of the new part-owners of Liverpool Football Club, but investment won’t come cheap.It has emerged this week that a consortium led by Amit Bhatia are trying to buy a 30% stake in the Reds, who are being given a valuation of $6bn (around £4.5bn), and they want Bezos to be involved.That is a significant increase on what Fenway Sports Group originally paid for the club in 2010, and finance expert Adam Williams has expressed his concern about the football ‘bubble’ and how the ever-inflating finances can’t last forever. How happy would you be if FSG sell Liverpool? 💰 Credit: James Baylis/AMA/Getty Images Investing in Liverpool at a $6bn valuation is ‘a straight gamble’Back in 2010, FSG paid £300m to become the majority owner of Liverpool.That means even if they only sell 30% of the Merseyside outfit, they would still more than quadruple their initial investment thanks to the new valuation, netting about £1.35bn.But when speaking exclusively to Rousing The Kop, Williams questioned how much longer football clubs can keep increasing in value before the bubble bursts, and suggested that ‘investing at a $6bn valuation is a straight gamble’.He said: “Valuations are a funny business in football.

So the $6bn valuation – the one which Bezos is said to at least be curious about – is a bet on the club’s global appeal, its brand and, I believe, the ability of football itself to get its house in order with its financial rules. When you have the likes of Chelsea inflating the market, everyone else has to increase spending to keep up, so everyone’s costs exceed their revenues.“For FSG, buying Liverpool has been a capital appreciation play – that is essentially: buy the asset low, sell it high.

And I don’t have much faith in it to do that.”It is hard to argue with that assessment, given how little profit football teams make on a yearly basis.In Liverpool’s latest set of accounts, the club made a profit of just £8m after tax.This was despite the fact they had a very quiet year on the transfer front, with Federico Chiesa the only senior signing.So, it stands to reason that once the new accounts are released in early 2027, Liverpool will have probably made a loss, or at least less than £8m.It is a similar story with basically every Premier League club in the last year, with only four (Newcastle, Aston Villa, Bournemouth and Liverpool) making any profit at all.So why do people decide they want to buy a football club? And is Bezos going to risk investing at a time when Liverpool’s valuation has never been higher?Join Our NewsletterReceive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox