A group of Liverpool investors have suffered a huge setback in their business empire.
RedBird Capital, an investment fund with assets of over £8bn, bough an 11 per cent stake in Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group for £533m in 2021.
The New York-headquartered firm, who are also full owners of AC Milan, have since exerted considerable influence at FSG and, by extension, Liverpool.
They have, for example, used their connection with basketball superstar LeBron James to create a lucrative commercial tie-in for Liverpool.
Primarily, RedBird are a media investment company that specialises in monetising intellectual property, and they think sport is the new frontier in this domain.
But they have just been hit with what can only be described as a disaster in financial terms.
RedBird’s £8bn SkyDance and Paramount merger collapses
RedBird has been in a protracted attempt to merge their SkyDance media company with fellow media titan Paramount for several months.
The £8bn deal was fully expected to go through within days but Shari Redstone, Paramount’s biggest individual shareholder has now scrapped the agreement at the eleventh hour.
The dramatic U-turn has been described by industry publication Film Take as taking place against a backdrop of “internal chaos” at the studio house.
The news has come as a huge blow to RedBird, who have invested enormous resources and man hours into the would-be merger.
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How will this affect Liverpool?
While RedBird are a heavily diversified company and the collapse does not threaten Liverpool directly, the Reds will see it as a missed opportunity.
There would have been ample scope for a commercial relationship with Paramount, who are a big investor in the sports sponsorship market.
They were set to pay Chelsea £40m per season to be their front-of-shirt sponsor, although that deal also collapsed at the very last minute.
Like every elite club at present, Liverpool are increasingly focusing on content creation as a revenue driver and brand initiative.
Paramount’s authority and expertise in this area also would have provided further opportunities for collaboration.