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Stan Kroenke’s Arsenal takeover masterplan takes shape amid £1.6bn reveal

Adam Williams

Tue 25 June 2024 16:45, UK

Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke now knows exactly what he has to do in order to eventually secure a massive return on his investment in the club.

Kroenke, who commands the second-most valuable sports empire in the ꧑world, has been in situ at the Emirates for almosꦚt two decades.

He shows no signs of wanting to exit the sta🍨ge any time soon, but🔜 his long-term goal is to hike the value of the club in order to eventually flip it for a huge profit.

The last time his resolve was challenged came in 2021, when Spotify founder Daniel Ek launched an unsuc💯cessful bid to buy the clu🔥b.

Officially at least, Kroenke insists that he is in it for the long haul, with his son Josh Kroenke now taking a more hands-on role at the club than him🐻self.

And the latest figures coming from industry exper🔯ts Deloitte make෴ it very clear what the KSE regime need to do before they eventually cash in.

Deloitte figures show how Arsenal contributing to £1.6bn Premier League losses

In their Annual Review of Football Finance released on Tuesday (25 June), Big Four accounting firm found that Premier Leagu🍃e clubs posted combined opera𒈔ting losses of £1.bn last season alone.

For context,♐ ‘operating losses’ are a clubs losses minus one-off items, s♛uch as player sales.

Arsenal posted operating profits six years in a row up to 2018-19, but have now made operatingꦦ losses totalling £234.2m in the subsequent five seasons.

Like any investor who is not taking a dividend, Kroenke‘s long-term aim is to create value in♛ order to maximise a return. And operating profit is central to this ambition🐈.

While the KSE regime have invested heavily in recent years to ma💯ke Arsenal competitive once again on the pꦆitch, their strategy from a broader perspective will likely focus on operating income.

That means greater emphasis on merchandise, s😼ponsorship, TV cash and matchday income.

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When will Kroenke sell Arsenal?

There is no knowing when Kroenke, ꦰnow 76,♍ will believe he has reached peak value from Arsenal.

A 🌺number of attempts to supercharge the club’s worth, such as Project Big Picture and the European Supဣer League, have failed.

And with an independent regulator with the poꦚwer to block these breakaway competitions for English football imminent, that means incremental growth is the only way forward – f🐲or now.

Kroenke’s wider s🌼ports empire is worth around £10ꦍbn, plus probably double that in real estate assets ass🌳ociated with those ventures.

Arsenal make up around £2.5bn of that figure.