Liverpool FC Is Now Worth $6 Billion. LeBron James Once Owned 2% But He Gave That Stake Away. But There's Still Good News For Lebron…

Back in 2011, LeBron James and his longtime business partner, Maverick Carter, entered into a partnership with Fenway Sports Group, the company controlled by billionaire John W. Henry that had recently acquired Liverpool Football Club. As part of the agreement, Fenway's sports-marketing division became the exclusive worldwide representative for LeBron's commercial and sponsorship opportunities.

In exchange, LeBron received a 2% ownership stake in Liverpool. Because Liverpool was valued at $325 million at the time, LeBron effectively accepted approximately $6.5 million worth of equity in place of cash compensation connected to the marketing partnership. That turned out to be an incredible bet.

Liverpool Is Now Worth More Than $6 Billion

Today, news broke that a consortium led by British-Indian businessman Amit Bhatia had expressed interest in acquiring a minority stake in Liverpool.

Bhatia is a former investment banker and entrepreneur who spent 18 seasons as a director and co-owner of Queens Park Rangers. You may be wondering how an investment banker might be able to afford to buy a piece of a soccer team at a $6 billion valuation. Well, in 2004, Amit married a woman named Vanisha Mittal. Vanisha is one of two children born to a man named Lakshmi Mittal. Lakshmi Mittal's net worth is $40 billion thanks to his sprawling steel empire, ArcelorMittal.

Bhatia married Vanisha in 2004, in a lavish six-day wedding celebration in France that reportedly cost more than $55 million.

The proposed Liverpool investment has not yet been finalized, but the deal would reportedly value the club at more than $6 billion. Fenway Sports Group confirmed that a consortium led and represented by Bhatia had expressed interest in making a strategic minority investment in the team.

So LeBron must be cracking open the champagne, right?

At a $6 billion valuation, a 2% stake in Liverpool would be worth $120 million.

That is nearly 18.5 times the stake's original $6.5 million value. LeBron would be sitting on a paper profit of approximately $113.5 million.

Not a bad result for accepting equity instead of cash. Unfortunately, there is one small problem: LeBron does not own that 2% stake anymore.

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LeBron Traded Away His Direct Liverpool Stake

In March 2021, LeBron, Maverick Carter and longtime business partner Paul Wachter exchanged their direct Liverpool interests for ownership stakes in Liverpool's parent company, Fenway Sports Group.

The transaction took place alongside a major investment by RedBird Capital Partners that valued FSG at approximately $7.35 billion. Instead of owning a concentrated interest in one soccer club, LeBron became an owner of the larger sports conglomerate that controlled Liverpool, the Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park, New England Sports Network and a collection of sports, media, marketing and real estate assets.

FSG subsequently expanded its portfolio by acquiring the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins.

At first glance, giving up a Liverpool stake that would eventually be worth $120 million might sound like a painful mistake.

But don't worry. There is still some very good news for LeBron.

What Is LeBron's Fenway Sports Group Stake Worth?

When Forbes declared LeBron a billionaire in June 2022—a conclusion with which we have strongly disagreed—it estimated that he owned approximately 1% of Fenway Sports Group.

Forbes valued that stake at $90 million at the time. We currently estimate LeBron's net worth at $800 million, but the Forbes calculation gives us a useful benchmark for estimating the value of his FSG ownership.

Fenway Sports Group has become significantly more valuable since 2022. In June 2026, CNBC ranked FSG as the fourth-most valuable multi-team sports empire in the world, estimating that its collection of assets was worth approximately $15.37 billion.

Assuming LeBron still owns approximately 1% of the company, his stake would now have a theoretical paper value of $153.7 million. Let's call it $154 million.

As a reminder, LeBron's original 2% Liverpool stake would be worth at least $120 million today. He traded that for a 1% stake in the Fenway Sports Group. And that stake is now worth $154 million. So ya he's doing just fine 🙂