Todd Boehly and Mark Walter close to selling Chelsea stake to Clearlake

Todd Boehly and Mark Walter are reportedly close to sealing a deal to sell their stakes in Chelsea to majority owner Clearlake Capital.

According to Bloomberg, talks between the parties have advanced in recent weeks. Boehly and Walter expect to make a small profit from their investments.

The deal would be a major change to Chelsea’s ownership structure just four years after the consortium completed its £2.5 billion takeover of the club from Roman Abramovich in 2022.

Clearlake currently holds a 61.5 percent controlling stake in Chelsea, while the remaining 38.5% is split equally among Boehly, Walter and Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss.

Boehly and Walter were part of the consortium that purchased Chelsea after Abramovich was forced to sell the club following sanctions imposed on the Russian billionaire.

The takeover included a commitment to invest another £1.75bn into the club, covering areas including the playing squad, academy and infrastructure.

However, Boehly and Walter now believe their interests in Chelsea have increased sufficiently in value to make an exit attractive.

Clearlake has previously been linked with a move to buy out Boehly and could also explore acquiring the stakes held by the other minority shareholders.

Chelsea’s ownership has been closely scrutinised since the takeover, as the club has pursued an aggressive transfer strategy and made major investments across its football operations.

Unfortunately, their investment has not yielded much, as the Blues have missed out on Champions League football frequently and are far from where they need to be to challenge for the Premier League.

The constant chopping and changing of managers that brought success under Abramovic has not worked.

Chelsea’s women’s team are also struggling, and the youth teams aren’t the dominant force they once were.  

BlueCo’s investment has been frowned upon at Strasbourg, with supporters unhappy at being used as a feeder club to Chelsea.