Bobby Kotick mooted to buy 10% West Ham United share after £60billion Microsoft development
American millionaire Bobby Kotick could purchase a 10-per-cent stake in West Ham, according to Sean Whetstone.
The 6foot2 editor provided an update on his personal Twitter page on Tuesday (12 December) following previous reports that Rothschilds has been mandated to find investors for Vanessa Gold’s shares.
Kotick is the long-term CEO of Activision Blizzard, the company behind Call of Duty, but he is to step down before the end of the year after a $75billion (£59.7bn) acquisition by Microsoft.
Whetstone added: “Kotick owns four million shares and has a net worth of around £694m according to Forbes. He once appeared in the film Moneyball with Brad Pitt as the owner of Oaklands Athletics baseball team.
“His name is being floated as a potential buyer of the 10% shareholding being sold by Vanessa Gold and her family with Rothschilds appointed as advisors.”
Exciting development
Vanessa Gold’s decision to sell up her 10-per-cent shares in West Ham has to be respected, and it may well be for the best of the club in the long term.
Rothschilds has been brought in to help find interested investors, with Kotick certainly an interesting name given his history.
Should he come on board, it will mean the Hammers follow the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Manchester United, Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Liverpool, Burnley, Crystal Palace and Fulham in having American investment.
Kotick clearly has enough money to buy a small stake in West Ham, and he may well have plenty of free time on his hands after the sale of Activision Blizzard.
As things stand, David Sullivan owns 38.8 per cent of West Ham, while the Golds own 25.1 per cent and Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky 27 per cent.
This is an interesting development, and one that may well lead to an exciting future for the club.
In other West Ham news, David Moyes may be without one of his regulars against Freiburg as a “relapsed” update has been shared.