'GOAT s**t': LeBron James stuns fans with $3 billion move
LeBron James is set to make history off the court after reportedly becoming the first black partner of Fenway Sports Group (FSG), owners of Major League Baseball franchise the Boston Red Sox.
James, who already has part-ownership of Premier League team Liverpool FC, has reportedly teamed up with his childhood friend Maverick Carter to buy into the franchise.
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This would make him part owner of their subsidiaries, the Boston Red Sox, Liverpool FC, Rousch Fenway Racing and region sports network NESN.
The Red Sox are valued in excess of $3 billion ($3.9b).
LeBron purchased an undisclosed amount of FSG shares, with the transaction reported on the same day the Boston Globe reported RedBird Capital Partners made a $750 million ($A970m) investment.
FSG - which is valued at approximately $6b ($A7.8b), according to Forbes - is also the parent company of Liverpool FC, the reigning champions of England's Premier League.
LeBron already had a two per cent stake in Liverpool since 2011.
The deal will reportedly take a few weeks to be approved by MLB before his partnership is confirmed.
Carter and LeBron will be the first and only black partners in the Fenway Group.
LeBron is set to become part owner of the Red Sox pending MLB approval, per @MikeSilvermanBB
He and Mav Carter joined Fenway Sports Group as partners, making them the first Black partners in FSG history ๐ pic.twitter.com/kCt7NRTLMDโ Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 16, 2021
Goat sh*t!! https://t.co/7NCPUkA9xD
โ Keef Morris (@Keefmorris) March 16, 2021
Holy shit Lebron James is gonna own the #redsox thatโs so weird to say the least!
— disabwolf (@disabwolf) March 16, 2021
While FSG has not made any official comment, Linda Pizzuti, the wife of principal owner John Henry, tweeted a message to James along with a link to the Globe article detailing the deal.
"Welcome to an even bigger part of the FSG family, @KingJames and @mavcarter," Pizzuit tweeted.
Later CBS said James' agent Rich Paul confirmed the ownership stake.
According to Forbes, James is expected to make $95.4m ($A123m) in salary and endorsements in 2021, with almost a third of that from his Lakers contract.
James is projected to surpass $1b ($A1.3b) in career earnings from salary and endorsements this year.
The only other athletes reported to have surpassed that figure in earnings are golfer Tiger Woods, boxer Floyd Mayweather and soccer greats Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
LeBron James records another triple-double
In San Francisco on Monday, LeBron recorded the 98th triple-double of his career and Montrezl Harrell scored 15 of his team-high 27 points in the second quarter, during which Los Angeles pulled away from Golden State en route to a 128-97 victory.
James' triple-double, his fourth of the season, consisted of 22 points and game highs of 10 rebounds and 11 assists.
Talen Horton-Tucker added 18 points for the Lakers while Kyle Kuzma had 17.
Stephen Curry scored 27 points to lead the Warriors, who lost for the fifth time in their past six games.
with AAP
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