- Microsoft and Alphabet CEOs are among the latest investors in a London cricket team
- London Spirit seals £145m deal for 49% stake in franchise
- Bid led by Palo Alto Networks chairman Nikesh Arora
The CEOs of Alphabet and Microsoft are among several technology heads behind a record-breaking bid for a minority stake in a franchise of the UK’s Hundred cricket competition.
Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai have joined a number of other cricket fans holding major roles at technology firms who have come together for a £145 million bid for a 49% in the London Spirit franchise.
The bid is the largest in this year’s tender, and values the London Spirit, which plays its matches at the iconic Lord’s cricket ground in the capital, at over £300 million.
London Spirit deal
Leading the bid, officially made by a consortium called the Cricket Investor Holdings Limited, is Nikesh Arora, the chief executive of security firm Palo Alto Networks, who heads up what the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), owner of Lord’s, called “11 high net-worth individuals”.
Along with Nadella and Pichai, this includes Shantanu Narayen, chief executive of Adobe, Egon Durban, the chief executive of Silver Lake Management, and Satyan Gajwani, the co-founder of Major League Cricket and vice-chairman of Times Internet.
Nadella and Pichai are both huge fans of cricket, which enjoys a huge fan base in their home nation of India. Nadella in particular is known for sneaking cricket references into the background of online talks and addresses, and is also an investor in the new Major League Cricket competition, co-owning the Seattle Orcas team.
The group was only able to bid for a 49% stake due to the remainder being retained by the MCC. Each of the hosts for the eight teams were given a 51% stake in their franchise, which they can sell or keep, with the ECB then selling the remaining 49%.
Elsewhere in the auction, Indian-American IT entrepreneur Sanjay Govil, the founder and chairman of Infinite Computer Solutions, also spent £80m for a stake in the Welsh Fire franchise.
India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, founder of the Reliance Group, snapped up the stake in the Oval Invincibles, London’s other franchise in the competition.
Via Cricket.com
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