Who owns the EPL

[johntheclaret]

Just shows how financing the EPL has changed. This is a list of the EPL sides and who now owns them.

Arsenal Currently subjet to a £650m hostile takeover from American Stan Kronke. Not without a few bob, said to have a personal net worth of $1 billion although his wife is the heiress to the Wall Mart fortune of more than $8 billion. Expected to buy ex vice-chairman David Dein's 14.6% share.

Aston Villa. Owned by American Randy Learner (purchased last September). Also owns NFL side Cleveland Browns Paid an estmated £185m

B4st4rd Rovers Still owned by the Jack Walker trust. Exact ownership is still unknown. Wlker (of Walkersteel fame) invested approximately £200m in developing his hometown club.

Bolton Wanderers. 95% owned by fan Eddie Davies who made his estimated £65m fortune in making kettle thermostats of all things.

Charlton Athletic Larget stakeholder with 25% is TV production magnate Richard Murray. His company Avesco supplies giant TV screens to concerts etc.

Chelski. Bought by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich in 2003, and has ploughed in and estimated £400m (£100m in players alone) since.

Everton. American Robert Earl, owner of Planet Hollywood, hasbought a 23% stake. English theatre tycoon Bill Kenwright is the other magor stakeholder.

Fulham. Egyptian, Harrods boss Mohamed Fayed owns the club he purchased in 1997 for £30m outright. Rumour has it that he is interested in offers.

Liverpool. American sports tycoons, Tom Hicks and George Gillett jr, bought the club in February for £435m. This was after a failed attempt by Dubia's Mohammed al Maktoum, (the worlds 5th richest man)

Man City. The club is run by JD Sports boss John Wardle. The club is seen to be a priime target after reducing it's debts to £50m (chicken feed), and an unnamed American consortium was reported to have visited the club last month.

Man United. Now owned by American sports tycoon Malcolm Glazier, who also owns Tampa Bay Buccaneers amongst others. Glazier made his money from Trailor Parks, and paid £800m in 2005 for Utd. He did however borrow heavily to raise the money.

Middlesbrough. Currently owned by Steve Gibson.

Newcastle United. Currently owned by Freddy Sheppard and Sir John Hall, although they wre subject to a take over bid by an American hedge fund called Polygon.

Portsmouth. Russian businessman Alexandre Gaydemak purchased 50% of the club in 2006 for £15m (This must be an absolute steal), and has since purchased the other 50%. Rumoured that he is only looking for a quick sale, something he has denied.

Reading. English chairman John Madejeski made his fortune in hotels and publishing, and has said the club is for sale at the right price. There are rumours of an impending £120m offer from Hong Kong tycoon Carson Yeung.

Sheffield United. English property tycoon Kevin McCabe owns 48% of the club. McCabe lives in Switzerland and has recently set up a £50m property portfolio to help stabilse the club.

Tottenham Hotspur. The largest shareholder in Spurs with 32% is a Bahamian Holdings company owned by Joe Lewis. It's a little bit foggy as the listed stakeholder is a company called Enis whose director Daniel Levy chairs the side, but this company is owned by Crailes Holdings from the Bahamas.

Watford. Tory party deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft owns 42% of Watford although his business interests are in Belize. Elton John is honorary life president but does not take any active role.

West Ham United. Icelandic FA President Eggert Magnusson headed a consortium the took control of WHU in November for £85m, although most of the financing came from fellow Icelander, billionaire brewer Bjogolfur Gudmundsson

Wigan Athletic. Owned by former b4st4rds player and JJB Sports magnat Dave Whelan, who purchased them when still in the 3rd division. Whelan estimated to be the 317th richest man in Britain.

From the list, only 8 out of the 20 EPL sides are still in English ownership. Of the 8, Arsenal is currently subject to a £650m American bid, Reading rumoured to be selling to a Chinese businessman and Man City are rumoured to be talking to an American consortium. If these deals go through there will be only 5 EPL clubs in English ownership

Porstmouth was purchased for around £30m and considering that all EPL clubs now pull in around £65m per annum from Sky / Setanta TV rights alone, not including CL / UEFA cup TV rights, merchandising, ticket sales, sponsorship etc, £30m seems a bargain.

[Gatekeeper]

Interesting read. Thanks JTC. 30 million for Portsmouth is a steal, as you say make a fair bit out of TV rights but then they also have to pay wages of the players.

[johntheclaret]

True enough gatekeeper, but the wages bill at Pompey will not compare to that of say Liverpool or Chelski. He also gets the ground for that along with more than £50m a year from TV. don't forget to add ticket sales, merchandise, sponsorship, advertising. FA cup money, hospitality and catering revenue, and to add to that, if they make the UEFA cup another £15m for tV and all the above for those games.

Think he will be quite happy at th mo.

[Gatekeeper]

Yeah the money is insane, the portsmouth owner would be laughing all the way to the bank.

[Start]

Newcastle United. Currently owned by Freddy Sheppard and Sir John Hall, although they wre subject to a take over bid by an American hedge fund called Polygon.

Interesing, there is alot speculation that John Hall's shares are available, but Freddy Sheppard has a controlling interest and has been the sticking point in the past.