Silicon Valley billionaires splurge £144m on London Spirit in Hundred auction
The Hundred is set to deliver an eye-watering windfall for English cricket that exceeds all projections after a Silicon Valley tech consortium won the right to buy a 49% share in London Spirit for £144m in a deal that valued the club at £295m.
Though just the third portion of Hundred equity to be auctioned off so far, the winning bid by a group featuring the chief executives of Microsoft and Google means the England and Wales Cricket Board has already raised £244m after
in Oval Invincibles (£60m) and Birmingham Phoenix (£40m) were sold 24 hours earlier.
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With five teams still to go, the ECB is on course to far exceed a combined target of £350m for its eight 49% stakes. The money raised from this phase is due to be shared among the 18-first-class counties, Marylebone Cricket Club and the recreational game, with host venues then able to sell their remaining 51% if desired.
London Spirit was always likely to elicit the highest bids given the prestige of playing at Lord’s but an overall valuation of £295m has surpassed all expectations. After a three-hour auction – “a battle of the egos” according to one insider – the consortium led by Nikesh Arora, chief executive of cyber-security firm Palo Alto, prevailed.
This group, which also features Sundar Pichai (Google), Satya Nadella (Microsoft), Shantanu Narayen (Adobe), will now begin a period of exclusivity with MCC to finalise the deal. They beat competition from Sanjiv Goenka, owner of Lucknow Supergiants, Avram Grant’s Lancer Capital, and Cain International, led by Chelsea director Jonathan Goldstein and backed by the club’s joint-owner, Todd Boehly.
There will likely be a knock-on effect, however, with those who missed out still able to bid for stakes in the remaining teams. Goenka, who was tipped as favourite for the stake in London Spirit, only to finish runner-up, is now expected to turn his attention to Manchester Originals. If so, it could see a target of £100m for 49% of the Originals similarly surpassed when it is auctioned on Monday.
Of the first three teams sold, just one, Oval Invincibles, has returned a partner from the Indian Premier League. Reliance, owners of Mumbai Indians and run by the Ambani family, secured that stake on Thursday, with Birmingham City investors Knighthead claiming the right to buy 49% of Birmingham Phoenix later that day.
Friday’s auction for Cardiff-based Welsh Fire was delayed by the bidding war for London Spirit. The Hundred is expected to remain largely unchanged for this summer’s edition of the Hundred, with the new ownership model set to take effect from 2026 onwards and expected to feature fresh team names in some cases.