Clearlake buys out Boehly and Walter to control Chelsea

Todd Boehly has sold his stake in Chelsea and is leaving the chairmanship he has held since 2022.

Mark Walter sold at the same time. The two held 12.8% each, and Clearlake Capital, which already owned 61.5%, has paid approaching £1 billion for the combined quarter of the club, according to the BBC. Clearlake now has full control.

The price says something about what the club is worth. People close to the transaction maintain Chelsea is valued at around £5 billion, but £1 billion for 25.6% implies closer to £3.9 billion, and the figure is described as approaching rather than reaching that amount.

Hansjörg Wyss, the Swiss businessman who holds the remaining 12.8%, is not selling. Chelsea said he will remain an important stakeholder and partner in the ownership group.

Behdad Eghbali and José Feliciano, who co-founded Clearlake, now run the club outright.

What ends with the sale is an arrangement that began under duress. The consortium bought Chelsea for £2.3 billion in 2022 from Roman Abramovich, who was forced to sell after Britain sanctioned him over alleged links to Vladimir Putin, which he denies. The proceeds remain frozen.

The owners fell out in 2024. Multiple sources told the BBC that a rift first apparent that year led both sides to explore buying each other out, and that Chelsea’s plans either to redevelop Stamford Bridge or build a new stadium had created tension between Boehly’s camp and Clearlake. The BBC reported in August that Boehly and Walter were looking to sell.

Boehly said it had been an honour to serve as chairman, thanked the Premier League, the coaches, players, staff and supporters, and said he valued his partnership with Clearlake and the decisions and investment the group had made. He said he was confident the club is well positioned under Clearlake’s leadership.

Eghbali and Feliciano thanked him for his time and contribution and said he will always be part of the Chelsea story. Their focus, they said, is continued investment in infrastructure, sporting performance and player development.

The two men also sold their holdings in Strasbourg, the French Ligue 1 club Chelsea partners with.

What they leave behind is a mixed record. Chelsea’s best Premier League finish under the consortium was fourth in 2024-25, the season it won the Conference League and the Club World Cup. It finished tenth last season and appointed Xabi Alonso as manager in the summer. The squad turned over at a remarkable rate across four years under a strategy of signing young players on long contracts.

Walter has been selling elsewhere too. He sold the Los Angeles Lakers last month for a record $12.5 billion, about £9.23 billion, a year after buying a majority stake, and he runs Guggenheim Partners as co-owner and chief executive. Boehly began his own career at the same firm.

Federal prosecutors in the United States and the Securities and Exchange Commission are separately investigating companies within Walter’s business empire.

Chelsea said there will be no changes to day-to-day operations, leadership or strategy.