New Delhi: The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) continue to make windfall gains after the third and fourth round of sales of The Hundred franchise. In the recent development, the Silicon Valley tech consortium from the United States bagged the rights for the London Spirits cricket team for a lucrative sum of £144.55m for a stake of 49% in the franchise.
According to multiple news reports, the London Spirits was valued at £295m after the consortium – led by Nikesh Arora (CEO of Palo Alto Networks) – grappled in an intense bidding war with Glazers family (co-owners of Manchester United FC), Todd Boehly (shareholder of Chelsea), and RPSG group (owners of IPL team Lucknow Super Giants). As per ESPNcricinfo, the RPSG group pulled out of the race when the bids went up as high as £292 million mark.
Excited to partner with the @HomeOfCricket, the top minds in media and tech, and make London Spirit the best cricket franchise in the world pic.twitter.com/A4vX1Ph6Cx
— Satyan Gajwani (@satyan) February 1, 2025
Silicon Valley Consortium’s £145 Million Investment in The Hundred
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, Nikesh Arora, and vice-chairman of Times Internet Satyan Gajwani and other tech billionaires in the US came together to buy the London Spirits for a valuation of £295m – which was more than twice of the price at what the owners of Mumbai Indians bought the Oval Invincibles (£123 million valuation). The report from ESPNcricinfo mentioned that the consortium involves 11 individuals and five of them are yet to be named in the public domain.
The Marylebone Cricket Club, the owner of the iconic Lord’s cricket stadium, has decided to retain its position as the majority stake holder for the London Spirits franchise. This means that the Silicon Valley tech consortium will pay a sum of close to £145m to buy 49% stakes for the Hundred team.
In the other auction of Friday, the owners of Major Cricket League team Washington Freedom came to an agreement of £80m to purchase Welsh Fire for 49% stake. Sanjay Govil, an Indian-American IT entrepreneur, backs the Freedom team.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) continues to profit from The Hundred franchise sales. A Silicon Valley consortium, led by Nikesh Arora, secured a 49% stake in the London Spirits for £144.55 million, beating bids from prominent figures like the Glazer family and Todd Boehly. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
