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Newcastle owners PIF release official statement as stance on £760m deal revealed
Newcastle United owners the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) have football’s biggest disruptors in in recent years and they are done reshaping the game’s landscape yet.
Since acquiring an 80 per cent stake in Newcastle in October 2021, PIF have spent billions of petrodollars on Tyneside, in Saudi Arabia, and throughout the football world.
Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup and have strengthened ties within the game via partnerships with the likes of CONCACAF, the confederation representing North and Central America and Caribbean.
Their investment in the Saudi Pro League meanwhile gives some indication of what they would like to spend at Newcastle if Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) were not a factor.
Geopolitics experts will tell you that influence and soft power are PIF’s main aims in football as opposed to generating a financial return on their investment.
PIF themselves have briefed Newcastle journalists that that is not accurate and that they see the St James’ Park club as a capital appreciation project like any other.
Whatever the case, the sovereign wealth fund’s outlay in football and in sport more broadly is astonishing in both its scale and its ambition.
Increasingly, PIF are extending their interests into the media sector with which football is inseparable.
One would-be deal in this industry attracted scrutiny last week because of fears it could represent a conflict of interest given their ownership of Newcastle.
PIF clarify reports of major media investment
A tight Venn diagram between club and media ownership is nothing new – Man United were part-owned by Sky in the early 2000s, while Aston Villa investors Atairos are currently shareholders in Comcast.
But the financial clout of media companies has made them major stakeholders in football, with Premier League clubs earning more than £2bn per season from broadcast partners.
One of those broadcast partners is DAZN, the British companies that airs the Premier League in Belgium, Portugal and Spain.
Reuters reported recently that PIF were looking to buy a 10 per cent stake in DAZN in a deal that could have been worth £760m in total.
Speaking exclusively to TBR Football, Liverpool University football finance lecturer and industry insider Kieran Maguire said he anticipated criticism of the DAZN deal based on concerns over conflict of interest.
But as relayed by , PIF have now officially distanced themselves from the stories that indicated that they were interested in the loss-making company.
Their statement read: “Various media outlets have reported that PIF is in talks to acquire a stake in DAZN. PIF is not currently engaged in discussions with DAZN on this matter and has no current plans to invest in the company.”
Yasir Al-Rumayyan’s Newcastle vision
Earlier this year, some in the media suggested that PIF’s interest in Newcastle was starting to wane.
Frustrated by the anchor that is PSR, some claimed that the organisation believed that their money would be better spent to achieve their aims in sport.
However, PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan’s continued public support of the club, as well as plans to expand St James’ Park that will cost more than £2bn, would suggest otherwise.
PIF’s primary concern will be showcasing their power and influence at the World Cup in 2034, yes.
But the fund has almost £700bn of assets under management, with the vast majority of those requiring far more operation oversight than Newcastle.
Even with PSR constraints and the ongoing turf war over the Premier League’s commercial rules, they will still consider Newcastle a cost-effective and efficient use of their time relative to others in their portfolio.