Todd Boehly is open to selling his stake in Chelsea to majority owners Clearlake Capital.
TheFinancial Timesreported on Monday that Chelsea chairman Boehly and director Mark Walter were in talks to sell their 12.8 per cent stakes to Clearlake, who are led by Behdad Eghbali.
Rumours of a rift between Boehly and Eghbali, whose Clearlake owns 61.5 per cent take, first surfaced in 2024 and it was reported the pair had explored how they could buy the other out.
Walter is reportedly also selling the Los Angeles Lakers to former Disney CEO Bob Iger and venture capitalist Josh Kushner for a record-breaking $12.5bn, a year after buying a majority stake.
Hansjorg Wyss also owns a 12.8 per cent stake in Chelsea but reports indicated that the Swiss billionaire’s position is unclear. Chelsea declined to comment.
While Walter has rarely been seen during his time at Chelsea, co-owner Boehly has been a prominent figure since the Roman Abramovich sold the club for £2.3bn in 2022.
But while Boehly served as Chelsea’s sporting director during the club’s first transfer window under the new ownership, his day-to-day role has gradually reduced since then.
Eghbali, who controls Clearlake with Jose Feliciano, has been the most influential figure at Chelsea in recent years. The reported rift between the co-owners followed conflicting ideas on a new stadium.
Boehly is due to step down as Chelsea chairman at the end of the upcoming 2026-27 season, following the end of his five-year term.
It was reported by The Telegraphthat there are rules in place that prevent any of Chelsea’s co-owners to selling stakes to an outside investor for the first 10 years of the ownership.
The Financial Times reported that Chelsea are now valued at £5bn, which means Bohely and Walter could each roughly double their £325m investment made four years ago.