Boehly in talks to sell his 12.8% Chelsea stake to majority owners Clearlake Capital

Todd Boehly is open to selling his 12.8 per cent stake in Chelsea to majority owners Clearlake Capital, the Financial Times reported on Monday, in a move that would consolidate control of the club under Clearlake’s Behdad Eghbali.

Boehly and fellow co-owner Mark Walter are both said to be in talks to sell their respective 12.8 per cent stakes to Clearlake, which already holds 61.5 per cent of the club. At Chelsea’s reported current valuation of £5bn, both men could roughly double the £325m they each invested when the consortium bought the club from Roman Abramovich for £2.3bn in 2022.

Rumours of a rift between Boehly and Eghbali first surfaced in 2024, with reports at the time suggesting the pair had explored ways to buy the other out. The tension is said to have stemmed in part from conflicting visions over a new stadium. Eghbali, who co-controls Clearlake with Jose Feliciano, has been widely regarded as the most influential figure in the club’s day-to-day operations in recent years.

Boehly had initially taken a hands-on role at Stamford Bridge, serving as Chelsea’s de facto sporting director during the club’s first transfer window under new ownership. His involvement has since diminished, and he is due to step down as chairman at the end of the 2026-27 season when his five-year term concludes.

Walter, who has rarely been a visible presence at Chelsea, is also reportedly selling his stake in the Los Angeles Lakers to former Disney CEO Bob Iger and venture capitalist Josh Kushner for a record-breaking $12.5bn — just a year after acquiring a majority share in the NBA franchise.

The position of Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss, who also holds a 12.8 per cent stake in Chelsea, remains unclear according to reports. Chelsea declined to comment on the matter.

One complicating factor is a reported rule preventing any of Chelsea’s co-owners from selling their stakes to an outside investor within the first ten years of the ownership structure, which would limit the pool of potential buyers to existing shareholders such as Clearlake.