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LeBron's 10 years at Liverpool - multiplied his investment sevenfold and sold Coutinho to Barcelona

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Ten years ago, NBA star LeBron James bought shares in English soccer club Liverpool. The basketball player lobbied for Felipe Coutinho's transfer to Barcelona and multiplied his investment.

In investments and on the basketball court, few can compete with LeBron James, whose red-and-white investment includes an investment in a major soccer club. Ten years ago, LeBron invested $6.5 million and acquired a 2% stake in Liverpool. At the time it seemed like a dabble and image move, but eventually James' deed brought him serious dividends. And not just financially.

To understand the magnitude of the vision of LeBron and his business partner Maverick Carter, it's worth starting with the fact that the couple became the first African-Americans to buy the stock of Fenway Sports Group (FSG) corporation, which besides Liverpool owns one of the oldest and most popular baseball clubs in the United States - Boston Red Sox.

The net worth of FSG, according to Forbes, is evaluated approximately in 7,35 billion dollars, and the corporation does not sell its stocks to just anybody, but selectively approaches the selection of shareholders. In this case, LeBron was in the right place at the right time. In 2011, during the transition from Cleveland to Miami, James' popularity skyrocketed.

LeBron's announcement on live national television of his team change created the image of an athlete who decides his own fate. And later FSG representatives told the BBC that this played a major role in considering James as an investor. That was also the reason why LeBron's presentation was so high-profile - a tour of Anfield (also FSG's property), introductions to the team, numerous photo shoots at the club's museum and other mandatory attributes of a potentially successful deal.



Time has shown that the deal worked out, FSG's investment and the club's associated successes have resulted in Liverpool's cost price rising to $2.13 billion by 2019, and LeBron's initial $6.5 million investment spiked to a minimum of $43.6 million.

Here you could say that LeBron just invested in time and nothing more, but in reality James was actively involved in supporting and developing the success of "Liverpool". First of all, through his media platform and personal relationships with Liverpool players.

For example, LeBron was involved in drafting the contract and recruiting James Milner when he was choosing an equipment sponsor. He telephoned with the player and told him what aspects of the agreement to pay attention to. The British tabloid The Sun even wrote that James paid the player a signing bonus from his own pocket,but it's naive to believe that one hundred percent.

But the story of Felipe Coutinho's transfer to Barcelona is well known. The Brazilian midfielder wanted to move to Catalonia, which did not suit Liverpool. Lebron, who often interacted with Coutinho, asked FSG representatives to initiate negotiations with the management of the "Blue Granatas". There were no ultimatums from LeBron, he acted in his favorite passive-aggressive style.

 

James has touched on the topic in several interviews, stressing the importance of players building their own careers and the sweet spot before the game with Golden State Warriors, wearing a Barcelona jersey with Coutinho's last name on it.

While the partnership was not as fruitful for Coutinho and Barcelona, Liverpool profited immensely. The club took goalkeeper Alisson from Roma, who has been a mainstay since his first season in England, for the money he made from the sale of the Brazilian.

At the time of Coutinho's sale (2017/2018 season), LeBron James had gone from just a super-popular athlete to media icon and magnate status, with several television projects in the pipeline, investments in 19 chain pizzerias and a sports nutrition company called Ladder,which LeBron founded in shares with Arnold Schwarzenegger. FSG simply could not turn down such an investor.

And James' ambitions stretched much further. In 2020, Liverpool won the first league title since the founding of the Premier League in 1992, and LeBron, after scheduled congratulations, did not fail to build on his personal success. In 2021, he purchased stock in the Boston Red Sox baseball team, thereby multiplying his role in FSG. The fact that the amount and the size of the stake are not mentioned anywhere indicates that LeBron splurged more than 6.5 million this time.


 Right now, Liverpool soccer is doing better than LeBron's Los Angeles Lakers, so James isn't discouraged and finds time to actively promote his soccer asset. He invariably reacts to every event from the Reds' camp, whether it's Mo Salah and Virgil Van Dijk's anniversaries or Pharaoh's goal-scoring run against Manchester City. "City, in such circumstances, can only fend off promises to invest in Spartak Moscow.

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