Dan Friedkin gets £900m boost as Everton takeover edges closer

Dan Friedkin gets £900m boost as Everton takeover edges closer

Net worth of CEO and owner of The Friedkin Group has risen significantly in 2024

Dan Friedkin has agreed a takeover deal to buy Everton

Prospective new Everton owner Dan Friedkin has seen his net worth jump to an all-time high. The US billionaire’s firm is currently awaiting regulatory approval to acquire the Toffees.

Friedkin, 59, CEO and owner of The Friedkin Group (TFG), the current owners of Italian Serie A giants AS Roma and the company expected to take the reins from current Everton owner Farhad Moshiri, potentially before the end of this year, has seen his personal net worth reach $7.6bn (£5.8bn) as of this week, according to Forbes.

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Friedkin’s fortune has been built on the success of TFG, the company founded by his late father, Thomas, in 1969. Houston, Texas-based TFG owns Gulf States Toyota, which sold $11bn (£8.4bn) worth of Toyotas in 2023, with the company having an exclusive licence to sell the Japanese car brand in major markets in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma.

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TFG also owns, among other entities, a film production company called Imperative Entertainment, based in Santa Monica, California, which produced the Martin Scorcese epic ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’, starring Leonardo Di Caprio last year.

Friedkin’s net worth earlier this year had stood at $6.4bn (£4.9bn), which had itself been an increase on his $4.3bn (£3.3bn) in 2023. In the past two years, according to Forbes data, his net worth has risen by some 77%. It is enough to place him at 393rd on the Forbes global rich list.

In contrast, the net worth of current Everton owner Moshiri stands at $2.7bn (£2.1bn), down from $3.1bn (£2.4bn) last year, representing a decrease of 13%.

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The Everton takeover is currently experiencing something of a lull in activity as the Premier League, Football Association, and Financial Conduct Authority assess paperwork and submissions by TFG in support of regulatory approval. It is expected that obtaining such approval won’t be an issue for TFG, unlike the long-doomed bid for Everton that the now-collapsed 777 Partners went through earlier this year. Approval could arrive for TFG by late December, potentially a little into the New Year, although it is the former that is the hope on both sides.

TFG took on the £200m debt to MSP Sports Capital during the summer and have already had discussions about what happens with dealing with the significant debt burden due to Rights and Media Funding Limited and A-Cap, with much of it expected to be dealt with by either refinancing at a better rate of interest of paying it down with cash.

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