Friday brought the news that one of Juventus’ biggest shareholders not named Exor was going to try and takes its biggest swing yet: become majority owner of Italy’s most historic club . Paolo Ardoino and stablecoin
giant Tether announced they submitted a big to Exor, the Agnelli family holding company that is run by John Elkann, worth upward of €1.1 billion to try and buy the biggest stake that anybody has in Juventus.
Exor, via a company spokesman denied that the club was for sale in rather quick fashion following Tether’s announcement that something involving a sale was potentially in the works.
On Saturday, we heard from Elkann himself.
In a video posted to Juventus’ website and all of the club’s social media channels, Elkann sporked a Juventus hoodie and spoke for all of about a minute. But the message was clear: Juve isn’t for sale. Or, in his own words, Elkann said, ““Our Juventus, our history, our values, are not for sale.” That is a clear message to Tether — and particularly Ardoino, following the attempt to try and obtain the 64.5% stake that Exor owns in Juventus. That would be on top of the 11.5% that Tether currently owns — a figure that went up following last months shareholders’ meeting when the company officially became a part of the Juve board of directors.
Here, in full, is Elkann’s statement regarding Juventus not being for sale:
“Juve have been part of my family for 102 years, in the real sense of the word, because over the course of a century, we’ve seen four generations make it bigger, stronger, protected it during difficult moments and celebrated in the many happy times.
“That is not all. Juve are part of a much, much bigger family. The Bianconeri family. It is made up of millions of fans in Italy and around the world, who love Juve the way they love those closest to them.
“It is precisely thinking about this passion, this history of love that unites us for over a century, that as a family we continue to support our team and look to the future to build a winning Juve.
“Our Juventus, our history, our values, are not for sale.”
You know it’s a big deal because Elkann is very much not a public-facing kind of owner when it comes to Juventus. It is a little different when it comes to his other business interest on the sporting end of the family empire, Ferrari in Formula 1. (And, considering his recent comments regarding Ferrari’s two drivers, many fans would probably prefer him not to speak on that matter as well.)
So for Elkann to come out and flatly reject Tether’s approach to buy out Exor’s stake in Juventus and do it in such a timely manner, it’s a pretty immediate response that he felt was necessary as he also just so happens to be selling a couple of his assets in the Italian media.
Tether’s offer had a 10-day window to be potentially accepted, with the Juve board of directors having to meet to even consider such an extraordinary step in the club’s direction if the Agnelli family were to sell. But that last part doesn’t look like it’s going to happen if Elkann’s words have as much as weight to them as he wants us to believe.
