Everton may have found their new owners in The Friedkin Group, who are currently in the front seat to acquire Farhad Moshiri’s 94.1% majority stake in the club.
This comes after the failed takeover of American investment group 777 Partners where they were unable to gain Premier League approval before a pre-agreed May 31 deadline due to inadequate funding.
Everton released a club statement about their new owners.
“The Club can confirm [today] that a period of exclusivity has been granted to The Friedkin Group to progress discussions to acquire a majority shareholding in Everton,” they said via their club website.
“All parties will now work together to conclude this process. In the meantime, the Club will continue to operate as normal.”
But who are The Friedkin Group and what have they done to get into this position?
Led by American billionaire Dan Friedkin who is the owner and the CEO of the group has a net worth of $US 6.1 billion. His father Thomas Friedkin, a former stuntman turned billionaire, founded Gulf States Toyota which is one of the world’s largest private auto distributors which has been passed onto Dan.
The Friedkin Group has branched out and grown over the last two decades, being a consortium of more than a dozen companies such as in the entertainment industry where they bought the company Neon in 2017 which distributed the Oscar-winning Parasite (2019). They also co-founded Imperative Entertainment which was the studio that produced the 2023 Martin Scorcese film Killers of the Flower Moon.
The American consortium has also dived into the sports business with naming right deals in Texas where the NBA’s Houston Rockets, MLS team FC Dallas and USL side San Antonio FC all play at homes with Toyota in their names.
However, one of Dan’s biggest moves in the world of football came in 2020 when he bought out an American group that had owned AS Roma since 2011. The group was led by fellow American Jim Pallotta who had a decent stint in Italy’s capital for almost a decade where Roma finished second in Serie A three times in four seasons while also reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League. Although, the club endured huge losses financially which therefore led to the takeover by the Friedkin Group. Last year in June, Dan bought his second football club AS Cannes who currently play in the fourth tier of French football.
Despite the takeover still not being fully confirmed as of yet, Everton’s off-season is going to be busy after confirming a deal with UK sportswear brand Castore as their sponsor while finalising the construction of their new 53,000-capacity Bramley-Moore Dock stadium, where they will move to at the start of the 2025-26 season. The Toffees have been busy during this transfer window where they have signed midfielder Tim Iroegbunam from Aston Villa, as well as dealing with the rumours surrounding young defender Jarrad Branthwaite who is heavily linked to Manchester United.
But if the Friedkin Group ultimately end up being the new owners on the blue half of Merseyside, fans will hope to see some sort of progression in the long-term as seen with Roma who won the first edition of the UEFA Conference League in 2022 after two years with Friedkin being owner. They will also hope to bring more excitement by improving the squad where they have finished in the bottom five places in the last three seasons.
