Boehly and Walter cash out of Chelsea as Clearlake era ends on profit

American owners double Chelsea valuation after four years of turmoil

Todd Boehly and fellow American minority stakeholder Mark Walter have sold their 12.8% shares in Chelsea to Clearlake Capital last week, exiting the club they helped buy at a $3.3bn valuation in 2022 for an estimated $6.7bn valuation now.

The sale marks the final stage of what writer Leander Schaerlaeckens terms the "First Clearlake Era", or the "Boehly Bungle". Since the May 2022 purchase from sanctioned former owner Roman Abramovich, Chelsea have slipped from Premier League champions in 2017 and 2015 and Champions League winners in 2021 to finishes of 12th, sixth, fourth and 10th in the league.

Spending spree and managerial churn

After the sacking of Thomas Tuchel upon takeover, Chelsea installed five permanent and four interim managers and employed five sporting directors. The club spent about $2.37bn (£1.78bn) on 60 new players, per Transfermarkt, a portfolio now valued at just $1.23bn (£920m).

"When, to put it in Professional Business Guy speak, your entire trading strategy rests on buying young players you plan to profit from later, it doesn’t seem great when you’ve spent twice as much on your portfolio of assets as it is now worth," Schaerlaeckens writes.

Signings included at least one of the Premier League’s all-time busts Mykhailo Mudryk and one of its worst contracts Raheem Sterling. Chelsea also set a new Premier League record for the biggest pre-tax loss and sold its women’s team to itself as part of accounting measures to comply with financial regulations.

Unmet ambitions

The period delivered no credible title challenge and no European qualification in two of four seasons, what the analysis calls "rock-bottom minimum for a club of Chelsea’s means". A mooted new and larger stadium was never built.

Boehly will walk away after four years as chair, with influence recently waned, "with a profit in his bank account, or wherever it is that money men of his kind stash their cash". The exiting owners made a "modest profit", per the Financial Times, explained by the $2.3bn (£1.75bn) investment committed at takeover.

Late-stage American sports capitalism

The piece frames the exit as emblematic of American ownership in English football: billionaire owners passing stakes among themselves for a premium, with little correlation between price and sporting performance.

Comparable examples cited include the Glazer family buying Manchester United in 2005 for $1.47bn and selling a quarter to Sir Jim Ratcliffe in 2023 for about $1.6bn, and Mark Walter buying the Los Angeles Lakers for $10bn and flipping them for $12.5bn 14 months later. This summer a consortium including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos bought 30% of Liverpool for $2.2bn from Fenway Sports Group, which had bought the club for $464m in 2010.

"It is virtually impossible to lose money by parking it in a beloved sports team over the long term. All you have to do is not get relegated," Schaerlaeckens argues. "The clubs now exist to make rich people richer. There’s little anyone can do about it. It sucks."