Chelsea CEO Guy Laurence ‘will step down after Todd Boehly’s £4.25bn takeover is complete’
Another big change at Chelsea as CEO Guy Laurence ‘will step down after Todd Boehly’s £4.25bn takeover is complete’, leaving new owner urgently needing to fill the key role
- Chelsea CEO Guy Laurence will step down after £4.25bn takeover is complete
- Toddy Boehly’s led consortium will now search for a new executive to take over
- Laurence helped the Blues turnover grow by 20 per cent since joining in 2018
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Chelsea CEO Guy Laurence will step down after Todd Boehly’s £4.25billion takeover of the club has been completed.
Laurence is in charge of running day-to-day operations in west London had already decided to leave the club before the ownership change began but stayed on to ensure a smooth transition period.
It is unclear who will step into that role, with the search for a new executive underway under the Boehly’s led consortium, according to Goal.
The new owner Boehly will need to urgently fill that the role to make sure the day-to-day running at Stamford Bridge continue to run smoothly.
The former CEO at Rogers Communications in Canada and at Vodafone UK, Laurence joined the Blues back in February 2018.
He has been in charge of the day-to-day business and commercial operations since, during a fairly successful period at the club.
Under his guidance, the club’s turnover has grown 20 per cent, from £360m to £435m, and that despite a two-year pandemic putting the brakes on a lot of revenue streams.
CEO Guy Laurence will step down after Todd Boehly’s £4.25billion takeover is complete
Laurence is expected to depart imminently after Chelsea have said they expect Todd Boehly’s £4.25billion takeover to go through on Monday after confirming a ‘final and definitive agreement’ had been signed with the consortium led by the American businessman.
The announcement from Chelsea marks the official end to Roman Abramovich’s era and will see the Russian replaced as owner by Boehly and the Clearlake Capital group.
‘Chelsea Football Club can confirm that a final and definitive agreement was entered into last night to sell the Club to the Todd Boehly/Clearlake Capital consortium,’ Chelsea said in a statement.
Chelsea have said they expect Todd Boehly’s £4.25billion takeover to go through on Monday
The announcement from Chelsea marks the official end of the Roman Abramovich era
‘It is expected that the transaction will be completed on Monday. The Club will update further at that time.’
The final hurdle in the protracted process was cleared when the Portuguese government authorised Abramovich’s sale of the club earlier this week.
It came after the British government finally approved the takeover.
Abramovich is selling the club in the wake of strict financial sanctions on him from the UK government, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The UK government stated the 55-year-old has ties to the country’s president Vladimir Putin, and subsequently froze all of his assets, including Chelsea.
The sanctions state Abramovich cannot make any direct or indirect financial gain from the sale, hence the proceeds being used for ‘humanitarian purposes’.
Boehly saw off competition from consortiums fronted by Stephen Pagliuca and Sir Martin Broughton and even a late £4.25bn bid from Britain’s richest man, Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
A total of £2.5bn will ‘be applied to purchase the shares in the Club and such proceeds will be deposited into a frozen UK bank account with the intention to donate 100 per cent to charitable causes as confirmed by Roman Abramovich’.
‘The other £1.75bn will be spent on ‘further investment for the benefit of the Club’, such as on Stamford Bridge, the academy, the Chelsea women’s team and the continued funding of the Chelsea foundation.’
