Chelsea co-owners Todd Boehly and Mark Walter hold talks over selling shares to majority owners Clearlake Capital
Chelsea majority owners Clearlake Capital own 61.5 per cent of club; Todd Boehly and Mark Walter own 12.8 per cent, but pair have held talks over selling shares to Clearlake, who are led by Behdad Eghbali and Jose Feliciano; Boehly was face of consortium which bought club four years ago
Monday 17 August 2026 23:48, UK
Todd Boehly and Mark Walter have held talks about selling their shares in Chelsea to Clearlake Capital.
Clearlake currently owns 61.5 per cent of the club, while Boehly, Walter and Hansjorg Wyss each own a 12.8 per cent stake.
Clearlake, under the leadership of Behdad Eghbali and Jose Feliciano, effectively run the club even though Boehly is the chairman.
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Boehly was the face of the consortium which bought the club four years ago in a £2.5bn deal.
In March 2025, Boehly said Chelsea's owners could go their separate ways if they could not agree on the future of Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea bosses are considering whether to leave Stamford Bridge or to expand, with Earl's Court seen as a possible new location.
All options are being evaluated, with the project said to be complicated by the limited space in London to build.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Boehly said: "We have to think long term about what we're trying to accomplish.
"We have a big stadium development opportunity that we have to flesh out. That's going to be where we're either aligned, or we ultimately decide to go different ways."
There had been tensions too between Boehly and Clearlake in 2024.
Sky Sports News reported in September 2024 that Boehly had been unhappy with the way the club is being run and that he did not want Mauricio Pochettino to lose his job as head coach in May 2024.
Enzo Maresca replaced Pochettino and went on to win the Conference League and Club World Cup, but he left at the start of 2026, with Chelsea eventually finishing 10th and without European football.
Xabi Alonso was appointed as the new manager this summer, with the Blues spending over £280m on 12 new signings.
'Boehly exit would be positive for Chelsea'
Daily Mail's Riath Al-Samarrai speaking on Sky Sports News' Paper Talk:
"It's been a very uneasy alliance, almost from the get-go.
"There have been some pretty notable sort of differences in opinion. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I always go back to one of the sort of turning points: Pochettino leaving.
"All the information we had was that Boehly wanted him to stay, but Clearlake were on the other side of that, and that's a fairly sort of big one for an ownership group not to be agreeing on.
"I actually think this will be a positive thing for Chelsea. I'm not necessarily sure either of them are particularly loved, but if he goes, then it creates maybe a little bit of clarity behind the scenes.
"But this is still contingent on Clearlake stumping up the money for him to accept.
"We know as well that his real kind of control of the club, the chairmanship, is going to expire next summer. There was always that thought in the background that that would be a point when there might be a natural parting of the ways, but it appears to be coming a little bit sooner."
Podcast special: Alonso, Fernandez & a new Chelsea era
It's been another summer of change at Chelsea - and on the eve of a new Premier League season, there is so much to analyse at the club, with Alonso's reign kicking off, big-money transfers to be settled and a search for success on the pitch in their sights.
In a special Sky Sports podcast - A big summer for... Chelsea - Peter Smith is joined by Sky Sports News reporter James Savundra and Sky Sports football journalist David Richardson to discuss the key talking points at the club, including Enzo Fernandez's future amid interest from Manchester City and a £120m price tag.
The arrival of £117m Morgan Rogers and his partnership with Cole Palmer was also on the agenda, along with Alonso's new tactical set-up and the surprise signings of experienced pair Jordan Henderson and Danny Welbeck, which signalled a shift in the club's transfer policy.
Listen to the podcast below, watch it on the Sky Sports News YouTube channel or read here for the key points from the episode.
