Boehly and Walter in talks to sell Chelsea stakes to Clearlake Capital

Chelsea co-owners Todd Boehly and Mark Walter have held discussions about selling their stakes in the club to majority owners Clearlake Capital, according to multiple reports. The talks would see the pair exit the ownership structure they helped assemble when the Blues were bought from Roman Abramovich in 2022.

Boehly and Walter each hold a 12.8% stake in the club. Reports suggest any deal would value Chelsea at more than £5billion, meaning each man could pocket in the region of £640million were they to sell up.

Clearlake Capital, the California-based private equity firm fronted by co-founders Behdad Eghbali and Jose E. Feliciano, already own a controlling 61.5% of the club. The remaining shares outside Boehly and Walter’s stakes belong to Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss, who also owns 12.8% but whose intentions remain unclear.

Rift dates back to 2024

The talks follow a rift within Chelsea’s ownership group that first became apparent in 2024, when both factions explored the possibility of buying each other out of the club. That tension has persisted despite public appearances of unity, including images of Boehly and Eghbali together at Chelsea’s FA Cup final defeat to Manchester City in May.

Eghbali has become the dominant figure at Chelsea since 2023, taking a leading role in transfer strategy while several senior club executives have departed during the ownership’s first four years in charge. Boehly, who fronted the takeover publicly and briefly served as interim sporting director, is already due to be replaced as chairman by a Clearlake-appointed representative at the end of the current season under terms agreed at the time of the 2022 purchase.

A sale of the Boehly and Walter stakes would represent a further and more decisive reduction of their influence at Stamford Bridge, four years on from the consortium’s takeover, reportedly worth around £2.3billion, from Abramovich. The group also committed to further investment in the club running into the billions as part of that deal.

Walter’s wider business troubles

The developments come shortly after Walter, co-owner and chief executive of Guggenheim Partners, sold the Los Angeles Lakers for a reported $12.5billion (£9.23bn) — a record fee for an NBA franchise and a deal struck just a year after he took majority control of the club. Separately, US federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission are said to be investigating companies within Walter’s wider business empire, though there is no suggestion this is directly connected to the Chelsea talks.

On the pitch, Chelsea have endured a mixed period under their current owners. The club finished 10th in the Premier League last season and have spent heavily on transfers since 2022 without adding a league title or Champions League trophy to the collection built under Abramovich. Xabi Alonso was appointed as the club’s new head coach this summer, becoming one of several permanent managers to take charge during the Clearlake-Boehly era.

Ownership uncertainty has become a recurring theme at Chelsea since the 2022 takeover, alongside supporter frustration over ticket pricing and unease about the club’s involvement in a wider multi-club model. Any resolution to the Boehly-Walter talks would mark the most significant shake-up of the club’s boardroom since Clearlake, Boehly and Walter first joined forces to buy Chelsea out of Abramovich’s ownership.

Read more: Chelsea give Man City Friday deadline to match £120m Enzo Fernandez valuation

Sources

• Sky Sports
• BBC Sport
• The Mirror

This is an independent report written from the facts across the sources named above.