Chelsea Face Major Ownership Twist as Todd Boehly and Partner Hold Talks Over Selling Shares
- Chelsea's ownership group has entered internal talks about a possible buyout, with Clearlake Capital emerging as the likely buyer of minority shares
- Boehly and Walter each hold a 12.8% stake and are said to value the entire club at £5bn, which would net each of them around £640m
- Tension within the ownership group stretches beyond finances, with disagreements over Chelsea's proposed stadium plans adding to the rift
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A significant shift in Chelsea's ownership structure could be on the horizon, with Todd Boehly and fellow minority owner Mark Walter having held discussions about selling their stakes in the club to majority shareholder Clearlake Capital.
Multiple sources familiar with the situation say conversations have been taking place within Chelsea's ownership group after a breakdown in relations, first noticed in 2024, pushed both sides to consider buying the other out.
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What has since become clearer is that Clearlake, which holds a 61.5% majority stake through co-founders Behdad Eghbali and Jose E. Feliciano, is now in a position to purchase the minority partners' shares rather than the other way around, per BBC Sport.
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What Boehly and Walter stakes are worth
Boehly and Walter each control 12.8% of the club. Based on a reported valuation of £5bn, a sale of either stake would generate roughly £640m per seller.
Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss, who is closely aligned with the pair and also holds a 12.8% share, may also be affected, though his position in any potential deal remains unclear.
The timing is notable for Walter, who last week completed the sale of the Los Angeles Lakers for a record $12.5bn (£9.23bn), just over a year after acquiring a majority stake in the NBA franchise.
Walter serves as chief executive of Guggenheim Partners, the global finance firm where Boehly also built his early career. Separately, Walter's business interests are currently under scrutiny from US federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Power shift at Stamford Bridge
Boehly has served as Chelsea chairman since the consortium purchased the club from Roman Abramovich for £2.3bn in 2022.
Under a pre-agreed arrangement, he is due to hand over that role to a Clearlake-appointed representative before the end of the current season, Sky Sports reports.
The change would mark another step back from the frontline for Boehly, who was the visible face of the takeover and briefly served as interim sporting director during the club's first transfer window under new ownership.
Since 2023, Eghbali has grown into the most influential figure within the Chelsea hierarchy, taking a hands-on role in transfer business. Several senior club executives have also departed within the first two years of the ownership group taking charge.
Not everyone within the club or the ownership circle accepts the narrative of a serious falling-out.
Some sources point to photographs of the two parties together at high-profile fixtures, including Chelsea's FA Cup final defeat to Manchester City, as evidence that the relationship remains functional.
Nevertheless, the proposed redevelopment of Stamford Bridge or a potential move to an entirely new stadium has become a genuine source of disagreement. While both Boehly's camp and Clearlake are said to prefer relocating from the current ground, they differ on the scale and design of any future project.
Chelsea finished 10th in the Premier League last season and have since appointed Xabi Alonso as their new manager ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.
Top managers BlueCo's Chelsea sacked
Earlier, Legit.ng reported about Chelsea's tumultuous managerial history under the leadership of BlueCo, detailing the recent dismissal of Liam Rosenior as their fifth permanent manager since taking over in 2022.
As the club grapples with poor performances and an alarming rate of managerial turnover, the question remains: will BlueCo learn from the lessons of their predecessors or continue down the path of instability that has plagued the team for years?
Source: Legit.ng
