Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James already has an ownership stake in a number of massive professional sports teams, and on Tuesday, his latest investment was reported.
According to to the Financial Times, James, rapper Drake and the New York Yankees will take part in the €1.2 billion acquisition of legendary Italian club AC Milan.
“The New York Yankees baseball franchise and a Los Angeles investment fund are investing in AC Milan alongside US private equity group RedBird, which is closing in on the €1.2bn acquisition of Italy’s football champions, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said,” Samuel Agini, James Fontanella-Kahn and Sara Germano of the Financial Times reported.
“The baseball team, owned by the Steinbrenner family, and Main Street Advisors, the LA-based fund that counts among its investors basketball star LeBron James, famed music producer Jimmy Iovine and rapper Drake, will become shareholders in the Serie A team, those people said.”
James joining the Milan ownership group will now make him a partial owner of four different clubs. He already owns stakes in the Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Penguins and Liverpool Football Club.
The 18-time All-Star is expected to be a passive investor of the Italian team through the fund.
“James, Iovine and Drake are passive investors in Milan through the fund and have not taken direct stakes, two people said,” wrote Agini, Fontanella-Kahn and Germano.
Interestingly, Liverpool and Milan have a rather exciting shared history when it comes to facing off against one another.
They have faced off twice in the UEFA Championship League finals (in 2005 and 2007), with Liverpool winning the first matchup in an epic comeback and the Italian side winning the rematch in 2007.
At the moment, Milan has two wins and one draw in Serie A play. Liverpool, on the other hand, has had a rather slow start to the season in the Premier League and is currently in ninth place with one win, two draws and a loss.
With that in mind, both seasons are very young, and there are a lot of games left to be played for both clubs.
For James, he’ll surely spend some time enjoying the success of the new team he is associated with before he gets back to competing himself. The 2022-23 NBA regular season is fast approaching, and James has a lot to prove in the upcoming campaign as fans wait and see if the Lakers’ dismal 2021-22 season was a fluke or harbinger of more failure.
