West Ham United shareholder agrees to sell company shares to French billionaire Xavier Niel
West Ham shareholder Daniel Kretinksy has agreed to sell his shares in the Le Monde Group to French billionaire Xavier Niel.
The French newspaper Le Monde reported on Saturday (23 September) that the deal seals the Czech businessman’s exit from the Paris-based firm.
Kretinksy’s shares, which he acquired in 2018, have been purchased by Niel’s holding company NJJ Presse, with the Financial Times reporting on 23 September that the deal is worth about £43.6million.
Interesting
This is a really interesting development on Kretinksy after he has invested heavily in the media industry over the past few years before selling his stake in Le Monde to Niel.
The Czech became the second-largest shareholder in West Ham when he bought a 27% stake in November 2021, while also securing an option to buy the club outright further down the line.
This latest move will hand him an extra £43.6million, but that won’t add too much to his wealth if he wants to eventually take up the opportunity to complete a full takeover.
There had been calls for a number of years for David Sullivan and the Gold family to sell there shares in the club, but that has cooled a little bit in recent times following the on-field success.
It is something that will eventually happen you would think, but as long as Kretinsky doesn’t push for a deal any time soon, it might not be for some time to come as long as matters on the field continue to move in the right direction.
In other West Ham news, Tim Sherwood has shared his verdict on Ivan Toney to the Hammers.