Another Premier League season is officially underway, and despite the usual dose of high hopes for Chelsea, the flagship football club finds itself embroiled in more uncertainty than it ever expected.
Minority stakeholders Mark Walter and Todd Boehly, who own a combined 26 percent (13 percent apiece) of Chelsea, are reportedly in talks to sell their shares to Clearlake Capital, which already controls around 61.5 percent of the franchise. To be sure, the talks between Boehly and Clearlake, specifically, are not new. The sides have discussed an ownership stake exchange in the past, albeit to no avail.
This time around, however, another is added to the equation: Walter, who recently sold the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers and also owns MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers, is under federal investigation for misreporting what's known as related-party loans among his own business ventures. Though nothing has been finalized, Walter's dilemma injects previously unheard-of urgency into the equation.
The news is another blow to Chelsea fans who have grown to distrust the current ownership regime. Their skepticism is not without merit, either. Just as sports betting enthusiasts will search "Is Betonline legit" when shopping around for a place to make wagers, they along with the EPL at large probably need to be wondering whether this Chelsea ownership group is, in fact, built to lead the club into the future.
While Walter's current legal situation raises all sorts of red flags as purchase talks continue, this is far from the first time these parties have found themselves battling murky circumstances.
#Chelsea #walter
Minority stakeholders Mark Walter and Todd Boehly, who own a combined 26 percent (13 percent apiece) of Chelsea, are reportedly in talks to sell their shares to Clearlake Capital, which already controls around 61.5 percent of the franchise. To be sure, the talks between Boehly and Clearlake, specifically, are not new. The sides have discussed an ownership stake exchange in the past, albeit to no avail.
This time around, however, another is added to the equation: Walter, who recently sold the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers and also owns MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers, is under federal investigation for misreporting what's known as related-party loans among his own business ventures. Though nothing has been finalized, Walter's dilemma injects previously unheard-of urgency into the equation.
The news is another blow to Chelsea fans who have grown to distrust the current ownership regime. Their skepticism is not without merit, either. Just as sports betting enthusiasts will search "Is Betonline legit" when shopping around for a place to make wagers, they along with the EPL at large probably need to be wondering whether this Chelsea ownership group is, in fact, built to lead the club into the future.
While Walter's current legal situation raises all sorts of red flags as purchase talks continue, this is far from the first time these parties have found themselves battling murky circumstances.
#Chelsea #walter
4 days ago
