Barcelona sell ANOTHER 25 per cent of their in-house production company for £85m to ‘free up enough funds to register their new signings’ on the eve of the cash-strapped club’s first LaLiga match
- Barcelona sold another 25 per cent of their in-house production hub for £85m
- The deal has taken place with Orpheus Media – who is run by Jaume Roures, 72
- They are hoping it will stump up the required funds to register their signings
Barcelona have sold another 25 per cent of their in-house production hub for £85million to help boost their finances in a bid to register their summer signings ahead of their first game against Rayo Vallecano.
The decision to activate their fourth ‘economic lever’ comes a month after the club signed a deal with Socios.com to sell off 25 per cent of their stake in Barca Studios last month.
Barcelona’s most recent deal has taken place with Orpheus Media – who is run by the 72-year-old Spanish media mogul Jaume Roures.
Barcelona have sold another 25 per cent of their in-house production hub for £85million to help boost their finances in a bid to register their summer signings
Roures is also the chief executive of MediaPro – which is the company that signed a £2.75billion TV deal to broadcast Ligue 1 games in the summer of 2020.
However, Roures’ company defaulted on their payments in October and pulled the plug on the contract just five months into the four-year deal until 2024.
Barcelona have activated their fourth ‘economic lever’ to offset the debt they find themselves in. An official statement from the club said: ‘With this investment the strategic partners in Barca Studios show confidence in the value of the project and the future of digital content in the world of sport.’
Barcelona are currently struggling to register all their new signings before the first game of the season. However, they are confident the new deal will stump up the required funds.
Barcelona have sold the most recent 25 per cent of their production company to Orpheus Media – who is run by Spanish media mogul Jaume Roures (above)
The Catalan club have yet to register their summer buys such as new star Robert Lewandowski
As it stands, Robert Lewandowski, Ousmane Dembele, Raphinha, Franck Kessie, Andreas Christensen and Jules Kounde all need to be registered before Barcelona take on Rayo Vallecano.
Barca’s problems have come in part because their valuation of the new revenue they have secured this summer is over and above LaLiga’s valuation.
The club sold 25 per cent of future TV rights but there was a difference of opinion when it came to deciding how much money they had raised from it. They declared €667million (£564m) but LaLiga only accepted €517m (£438m).
The difference can be explained by them forming a spin-off company called Locksley Invest with the US investment fund Sixth Street of which Barça and Sixth Street both own 50 per cent.
Twenty-five per cent of Barca’s future TV rights income were sold by Locksley to Sixth Street for €517m (£438m). Barca then paid €150m (£127m) to buy them back in 25 years time and declared that €150m (£127m) in new revenue but LaLiga accepted only the €517m (£438m) deeming the other €150m (£127m) to be the club buying from themselves, in effect.
Barcelona veteran Gerard Pique has taken a hefty pay cut to remain with the Spanish giants
That meant Barcelona had to either sell Frenkie de Jong or sell a further 25 per cent of their production company Barca Studios and they have yet to do those two things.
Gerard Pique has taken a pay cut and there are moves to persuade other veterans to do likewise but as of yet they have not done enough to satisfy LaLiga.
More to follow…
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