Who are billionaires who want to buy Chelsea?
The Ricketts family
Bid leader: Tom Ricketts, 56, American Lowdown: Chairman of Chicago Cubs, former minority stakeholder in Derby County. Bid members: Ricketts and three siblings, and hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin. Good for the money?: The Ricketts have assets worth around £6m and Griffin is worth around £20bn.
Star quality: The Ricketts family are close to Donald Trump, personally and politically. Trump’s most famous interaction with English football was conducting the quarter-final draw for the Rumbelows Cup in 1992 with Saint and Greavsie. But he could use his platform to promote his friends.
Team Boehly
Bid leader: Todd Boehly, 46, American. Lowdown: Billionaire investor who owns stakes in LA Dodgers (baseball) and LA Lakers (NBA). Bid members: Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss, British lawyer Jonathan Goldstein and US investment firm Clearlake Capital. Good for the money? Boehly had a bid for Chelsea rejected in 2019. Clearlake have £46bn of assets. Wyss is worth £4bn.
Star quality: PR legend Barbara Charone, who masterminded Madonna’s career.
The Broughton bid
Bid leader: Sir Martin Broughton, 74, British. Lowdown: Former chairman of British Airways, and, briefly, Liverpool FC. Bid members: Lord Sebastian Coe and unnamed billionaires from ‘four or five continents’ says Broughton. Good for the money?: Unknown, because Broughton gave no details. Claims his bid is between £2bn-£3bn.
Star quality: Aside from four-time Olympic medalist Coe, the bid has the backing of the CAA talent agency that represents many of the biggest names in the NFL and NBA.
Blue Football Consortium
Bid leader: Nick Candy, 49, British. Lowdown: Luxury property developer, married to Australia actress Holly Valance.
Bid members: Mostly unnamed ‘high net worth backers’ from UK, Europe, USA and Korea, including Hana financial group.
Good for the money?: Candy’s property fortune along with his brother Christian is around £1.5bn. Other backers wealth: unconfirmed.
Star quality: Gianluca Vialli, a former Chelsea striker, and manager, who has won European silverware as both a player and manager.
Saudi Media Group (SMG)
Bid leader: Mohamed Alkhereiji, 50, Saudi Arabian. Lowdown: Saudi businessman who studied in London. Long-time Chelsea fan. Bid members: Unclear whether SMG’s parent company Engineer Holding, will act alone, but local reports claim other Saudi entities part of a consortium. Good for the money?: Alkhereiji is a billionaire, so yes.
Star quality: No western celebs involved but he has been pictured with Saudi’s de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman, accused of ordering the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.