In its annual ranking of the most valuable sports franchises around the world, Forbes ranked Liverpool No. 6, valuing the club at $822 million (it was ranked fifth in 2009), behind Manchester United, Real Madrid of Spain's La Liga, EPL club Arsenal, Barcelona of La Liga, and Bayern Munich of Germany's Bundesliga. The "value" of a team is defined by Forbes as a team's equity plus its net debt.
Bloomberg reported that QSL issued a statement August 20 saying that "We concluded that a plan that properly capitalizes the business and provides funds for a new stadium and player related costs would allow Liverpool FC to provide its great fans with the success they deserve. Our strategy and unique ability to expand the fan base in Asia would also have been of benefit to all." However, the statement went on to say that "We regret that we will not have the opportunity to implement this strategy. We thank the many Liverpool fans who expressed support for our efforts and wish the club great success in the years to come."
Many of those fans have been unhappy with Gillett and Hicks for failing to build a promised new stadium and for saddling the club with so much debt.
Huang was profiled in an August 10 New York Times article.
In an August 9 news article at InvestmentAdvisor.com, we wrote about AIG being supplanted by Aon on the shirts of the Manchester United players this season.
