After announcing on August 1 the sale of 24.5% of the shares of Barça Studios to the Socios.com platform for 100 M EUR, FC Barcelona indicated on Friday that it had sold an additional 24.5% of its subsidiary to the company. Orpheus Media, headed by Jaume Roures, for another hundred million euros.
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After the sale of 10% then 15% of income from La Liga TV rights to the American investment fund Sixth Street this summer for a total of 400 million euros, and the sale of 24.5% of Barça shares Studios on the Socios.com platform in early August, FC Barcelona continues its maneuvers to obtain cash quickly in order to be able to register all its recruits (Raphinha, Kessié, Christensen, Koundé, Lewandowski, etc.) in compliance with the salary cap before the start of the championship.
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Known in Spain as the "fourth lever", this sale of Barça Studios (subsidiary in charge of managing the audiovisual productions and the digital business of the club) will offer new liquidity to Barça, which should increase its salary cap and help it to register new players with LaLiga.
As a reminder, the leaders of FC Barcelona had obtained the approval of the socios (supporters-shareholders) to sell 49.9% of the shares of Barça Studios.
Unlike previous transactions with Sixth Street, these sales of Barça Studios shares do not extend over a period of 25 years, but are definitive.
Orpheus Media is a company run by Jaume Roures, founder of Mediapro, a former Ligue 1 broadcaster whose default in 2020 plunged French football into an unprecedented financial crisis.
In addition to the sale of part of their TV rights, Barça recently played on several fronts to quickly obtain liquidity and thus be active in the market with a EUR 595m loan from Goldman Sachs and a sponsorship with Spotify for approximately EUR 435m.
In August 2021, Laporta announced after an audit of the club's finances that Barça had to face a total debt estimated at 1.35 billion euros, and the club had resolved to let Lionel Messi leave for Paris SG in explaining that he couldn't afford to keep the Argentine star, even on a reduced salary.
