Liverpool : LeBron James's Stepping Stone
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I'm sure many of you know LeBron James. Also, I'm sure you all know about Liverpool. But I would doubt a lot of you don't know what relationship these two entities share. That is, that LeBron James owned a part of Liverpool. LeBron James owned a 2% share of Liverpool. Well, that relationship ended in 2021. What happened next is something I will come back to, later. Let's see why this is even significant.
LeBron James always had a different approach with business. Drastically different from whatever mess Barcelona is in right now. Unlike them, LeBron always cared more about long term gains rather than short time fixes. As a result of this, he signed a lifetime contract with Nike, even when Reebok offered more money up front. LeBron's financial advisor who made it all happen. During that time a new company called Fenway Sports Group was emerging. Yes, this is the same FSG which owns Liverpool. FSG were fresh off buying Liverpool at that time. LeBron James sat down with them with a thought that they might sign him too. Like Nike.
But FSG is more of a team owner than an athlete owner. So there wasn't any proper way for FSG to sign LeBron James. But they recognized the potential success a partnership with LeBron James can bring. So they thought of a unique idea. They traded ownership stakes for marketing rights. LeBron gets 2% of Liverpool and in return FSG gets to use LeBron James for all their marketing. Literally what Nike does with him. FSG actually wanted to emulate the success PSG had with it's collaboration with Michael Jordan's Air Jordan. The way that partnership has benefitted two different entities and brought in a lot of money for the owning company. Though Liverpool and James haven't reached those heights, but the potential is there. And just so you know, LeBron James's Liverpool investment has returned him over 15 fold. So it's a win on his book.
Now about what happened after 2021. LeBron James converted his 2% share of Liverpool into 1% share of FSG itself. Numbers can be deceiving but FSG is a way bigger entity than Liverpool. So a 1% stake in FSG actually sees LeBron James diversifying his investments. And this has kicked off a new line of the story. In a few recent briefings, FSG has shown interest in entering in basketball. They have many teams in many sports but none in basketball. So when they finally consider buying or straight up building a new club from scratch, there lies a possibility that LeBron James will be owning a basketball team. Something he always wanted.
And since LeBron James is already a legend, him sitting at the chair of a new basketball team will only make people go for that team without hesitation. And in a bigger picture, LeBron has surely won the investment game. Now all he's gotta do is buy more shares and keep it safe.