Still curious as to how JWH and FSG have increased their worth, but somehow they donât profit from LFC? Does their profit purely come from Boston Red Sox? From NASCAR?
So they run LFC as a business model but make no profit? Bollocks if I ever heard it, regardless of what figures from a spreadsheet say...
The value of their assets has increased.
That means their personal worth has increased.
That's why wealthy people buy assets that will increase in value instead of keeping their money in a bank.
JH was an asset billionaire before he took over LFC.
Mike Gordon is also an asset billionaire who bought 12% of the whole group, and runs LFC (JH concentrates on the Red Sox).
So, as the value of LFC increases, their paper worth or asset worth increases.
Same goes for their other assets.
That worth will only be realised when they sell the club, but for now, on paper, as the owners, it increases their worth.
This is inline with JH's trading strategy, which made his vast fortune, of finding undervalued assets and building them up over the long term.
The accounts, prepared and signed off by KPMG show they don't take any money apart from loan repayments.
If you think it's the same as the bloke who owns the cornershop, knocking out a spreadsheet every year for the taxman, you'd be wrong.
So, to recap: Their assets (including LFC) have increased in value, which gives them a higher worth on paper.
They won't make any profit until they sell the club, and don't take any money out of the club (apart from loan repayments, and even then the loan mostly rolls over, interest free).
Now, you can debate the ethics, business practice or long term viability of buying a club for ÂŁ300 million, increasing the value of it to $1.34 billion dollars (call it a billion quid), and then selling it (which they haven't done yet), but just gobbing off about them "nicking money" from something they own, is pretty wide of the mark.
A million quid is pocket change to these blokes.
They don't give a F**k about taking a few quid out.
They're in it for the long haul, and success means they make more money when they eventually sell.