Boehly and Walter sell Chelsea stakes as Clearlake takes full club control

Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly and director Mark Walter have sold their stakes in the club to majority owner Clearlake Capital. Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss has also sold his stake, leaving Clearlake — led by co-founders Behdad Eghbali and Jose E. Feliciano — in full control of the club.

Boehly, Walter and Wyss each held 12.8% of Chelsea, while Clearlake previously owned 61.5%. Boehly, an American businessman, will now leave his chairman role, a position he had held since 2022, when the ownership consortium bought Chelsea from Roman Abramovich for £2.3bn. Abramovich had been sanctioned by the UK government that year over alleged links to Russian President Vladimir Putin, which he has denied.

BBC Sport reported in August that Boehly and Walter were exploring a sale of their stakes. Sources said talks began after a rift within the ownership group first surfaced in 2024, prompting both sides to consider buying each other out.

Boehly, who is also a co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, described serving as Chelsea chairman as an honour and thanked the Premier League, coaches, players, staff and fans. Since the 2022 takeover, Chelsea's best Premier League finish has been fourth, achieved in 2024-25, a season that also brought Uefa Conference League and Fifa Club World Cup titles. The club finished 10th last season and appointed Xabi Alonso as manager over the summer.

Eghbali and Feliciano thanked Boehly for his contribution, saying he will always remain part of the Chelsea story. They said the focus going forward is continued investment in infrastructure, sporting performance and player development. Chelsea have ongoing plans to either redevelop Stamford Bridge or build a new stadium, an issue sources say had caused friction between Boehly's camp and Clearlake at times. The club said the ownership change will not affect day-to-day operations, leadership or strategy.

Walter, who also runs global finance firm Guggenheim Partners, last month sold the Los Angeles Lakers for a record $12.5bn. Separately, US federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating companies within Walter's business empire.