Two American businessmenalready heavily involved in professional sport in their country, and a Swiss millionaire: who are the new owners of Chelsea, whose purchase was announced this Saturday?
(The millionaire Champions League loot for which Liverpool and Madrid go).
TODD BOEHLY
Boehly, 48, is the figurehead of the group that is going to buy the London club from Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich for around 5 billion euros ($5.27 billion). The businessman, who is a graduate of the London School of Economics, first worked for several large US banks, including Citibank, before joining financial services giant Guggenheim Partners in 2001, later becoming its chairman.
In 2015, this father of three children left Guggenheim Partners to create Eldridge Industries, present in banking, insurance, construction, technology, media, sports and restaurants. His asset portfolio includes the American music magazine Billboard, the catalog of songs and musical rights of Bruce Springsteen or the Cirque du Soleil.
Boehly is not facing his first investment in professional sports. In 2013, he bought the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball franchise from Frank McCourt, current owner of Olympique de Marseille, with other investors such as Mark Walter, also present in the Chelsea purchase offer, and former NBA basketball legend Magic Johnson. . Later, he entered the capital of the famous Los Angeles Lakers basketball team, as well as the LA Sparks American women’s professional basketball team.
His personal fortune is estimated according to Forbes magazine at 4,500 million dollars, which places him in 637th place in the world ranking of the greatest fortunes, established in 2022 by the American magazine.
Boehly, who had practiced wrestling as a teenager, a very popular sport in high schools in his country, had already tried to buy Chelsea in 2019. He divides his life between Los Angeles and Connecticut and has been the interim president of Chelsea since 2021. the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which awards the Golden Globes each year.
Chelsea FC
EFE
MARK WALTER
In 2012, Mark Walter, 61, was the main architect of the purchase of the Los Angeles Dodgers for more than 2,000 million dollars. Born in Iowa, this lawyer by training is the great patron of Guggenheim Partners, as one of the founders in the 1990s. This investment fund, present in financial services, estimates its assets at 325,000 million dollars.
The company is linked to the famous Guggenheim family, embodiment of the American dream, which made its fortune in the mining industry and later in banking and which gave its name to several museums, such as those in New York or Bilbao. Walter, married and father of a son, is, according to the American press, very involved in defending the environment.
His personal fortune is estimated according to Forbes magazine at 3,900 million dollarsthe 665th world fortune, according to the classification established in 2022 by the American magazine.
HANSJÖRG WYSS
Unlike his top associates, Wyss, 86, is not yet present in professional sport. This very discreet millionaire is the richest of the three investors, with a fortune estimated by Forbes at 5,000 million dollars, synonymous with 552nd place in the world ranking established by the American magazine.
A Harvard graduate, Wyss began in the textile industry, and then worked in the automobile (Chrysler) and aeronautics industries, before creating the US subsidiary of Synthes, a Swiss group specializing in medical equipment (prostheses, implants), of which will take control, before reselling it in 2012 to the American giant Johnson & Johnson for 20,000 million dollars.
Established in the United States, Wyss is considered by the daily Blick as “the most influential Swiss in the world”. Like his associates, his ties to football are limited, his sport of choice being alpine skiing.
AFP
