The San Francisco 49ers have been valued at more than $9bn after the chairman of artificial intelligence behemoth OpenAI agreed to acquire a stake in the NFL franchise.
Bret Taylor – who is also the co-founder and chief executive of fellow AI business Sierra, and formerly the board chairman of Twitter – will acquire one per cent of the team who call the Levi’s Stadium home.
The York family stake sale values the five-time Super Bowl winners at over $9bn (£6.8bn), making them the fourth most valuable NFL franchise behind the Dallas Cowboys ($12.8bn), the Los Angeles Rams ($10.43bn) and the New York Giants ($10.25bn).
San Francisco 49ers sell stake
In September, Barcelona investor Sixth Street agreed to acquire a minority stake in the New England Patriots in a move that valued the former employer of Tom Brady at $9bn.
If approved by the owners on Wednesday, the stake sale will become the latest in a number of minority investments into the San Francisco 49ers.
Pete Briger of Fortress Investment Group, Iconiq Capital’s Will Griffith, Indian-American billionaire Vinod Khosla and Leeds United co-owner Byron Deeter have all pitched in to the team in return for minority stakes in the franchise.
San Francisco 49ers’ Levi’s Stadium will host six matches during next year’s 2026 Fifa World Cup, but have been given a roster of teams yet to dominate global football.
They’ll host the likes of Qatar, Switzerland, Austria, Jordan, Paraguay, Algeria and Australia in the group stages, while they’ll stage just one knockout match in the Round of 32.
The NFL currently has a 10 per cent cap on private equity stakes in franchises, and employs a pre-approved list of capital investors so minority stake sales to individuals are becoming more popular.
The NFL did, however, approve private equity and individual stake sales for the New York Giants, New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers in October that saw the three franchises valued at a collective $29bn.