Hollywood actor Will Ferrell has joined Leeds United as a minority investor.
Leeds owners, 49ers Enterprises, have a number of high-profile minority stakeholders including actor Russell Crowe, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and Major golf champion Jordan Spieth.
Ferrell, 56, has bought a small stake in the Championship club to join this group with the club’s general partners — from 49ers Enterprises itself — still in day-to-day control.
49ers Enterprises, who already owned 44 per cent of the club, completed their full takeover in July.
Ferrell, who is already a part-owner of Major League Soccer side Los Angeles FC, follows a number of celebrities to try their hand at football club ownership in recent years.
Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have enjoyed meteoric success with Wrexham while JJ Watt and his wife Kealia invested in Burnley in May of last year and fellow NFL great Tom Brady joined the ownership group at Birmingham City in August.
Leeds finished third in the Championship and will face Norwich City in the first leg of the play-off semi-finals next weekend in their bid to return to the Premier League.
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A day with Will Ferrell in Wrexham (yes, you read that correctly)
European football and its relationship with the U.S.
How does Leeds’ ownership group work?
The Leeds United investment group created by 49ers Enterprises is split into two sections — general partners and limited partners. Financially, the first group are the main players in the Leeds United project, the source of the most serious funding.
You have, for example, Peter Lowy, the Australian businessman, and US entrepreneur Rudy Cline-Thomas, the club’s vice chairman. And, of course, the individuals who control 49ers Enterprises itself, like Jed York. He and his family have been behind the San Francisco 49ers NFL franchise for a long time.
But behind them are the limited partners, a celebrity cast of thousands who have invested in Leeds at a much lower level — many of those investments are in the millions of pounds but are small amounts in comparison to the general partners.
Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps is part of that collective. So too golfer Jordan Speith, basketball player Larry Nance Jr, political figure Jim Messina — a senior White House figure under former US president Barack Obama — and, as he revealed recently, actor and Leeds fan Russell Crowe.
The indication from Elland Road is that Will Ferrell falls firmly into the limited partner category. He’s another famous face in the mix but he won’t be calling any shots in the boardroom.
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What does 49ers Enterprises’ takeover mean for Leeds United?
(Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
