On Thursday night, Barcelona held it’s virtual Extraordinary General Assembly in order to find the solution to it’s huge financial problems. Two main topics were on the agenda: Authorization of the purchase of a minority stake in the share capital (up to 49.9%) of the company, Barca Licensing & Merchandising (BLM) and cession to one or more investors of up to 25% of income for the exploitation of the corresponding television rights. Both proposals were accepted after a long discussion and the results of the vote were 568 in favor, 65 against, and 13 blank votes. This way, the Catalonians are expected to income between 200 and 300 million euros, which would ease their trouble and allow them to ’breathe’ in the transfer market.❗️The partial sale of BLM has been authorized by club members.— Barça Universal (@BarcaUniversal) June 16, 2022 BLM shares were always a tricky topic and something which president Joan Laporta was forced to do at the very end, so vice-president Juli Guiu completed his presentation with three very important aspects relating to this sale:„The new investor will always have a minority stake, the new partner will help us grow and the Club will always have the option to repurchase this minority stake” said Guiu.Barca rejects CVC deal, will reduce player’s wages againThe financial situation and the inability to register (or buy) new players under the strict La Liga financial rules were the main topic in Spanish press for months, and president Javier Tebas made Barca’s life difficult with his continuous quotes about their financial plight in the media. So it was not a surprise when even the former Barca president Joan Gaspart said during the meeting that getting La Liga president off Barca’s back is something he would like very much.„I don’t like this operation at all, but I like not doing it even less. The partners have seen that Barca has not been competitive. Do you think that if we put gasoline in the Ferrari or the best engine in the world, and we get to drive, will we win? Without that sports lever, we will not be able to be competitive again. I know that this club will never be sold. To be able to tell Tebas tomorrow that we have gotten out of this pothole and to forget about us, just for that, this is worth it to me”.(2.25) CERAMICA CLEOPATRA (2.90) PHARCO (3.45)President Laporta used the ’Formula 1’ example to explain the Assembly members the current Barcelona state.„We find ourselves in a very delicate financial situation. It is a limit situation. Barca is a Formula 1 single-seater and we found it without gasoline and with a seized engine. In any company, it would have been dissolved and the partners would have had to contribute money, but we said no and began to work reducing debt, the sports payroll in a relevant way, generating more income with some sponsorship that has gone around the world like Spotify. We managed to start the car but it wouldn’t roll and we thought of activating mechanisms to revive the club’s economy thanks to the assets we have. The goal is for Barca to always be owned by the members. We had an offer of 1 billion euros for 100% of the rights for 10 years. We said no“ explained the president, easing any worries that the club could be sold to another buyer.
