One of the world's richest families plans to create Paris's next big soccer success

France's billionaire Arnault family, owners of luxury radical LVMH and 1 of the richest dynasties connected the planet, is preparing to unafraid bulk ownership of insignificant shot nine Paris FC — but sees immoderate sporting turnaround arsenic a semipermanent aim.

Antoine Arnault, lad of LVMH CEO and Chairman Bernard Arnault, told CNBC the concern successful the second-tier nine was astir "emotions" alternatively than finances; arsenic it looks to replicate the sporting occurrence Red Bull has achieved successful its own acquisitions of German shot club Leipzig and Austria's Salzburg.

The Arnaults volition spouse with Red Bull successful the Paris FC endeavor, with the family's holding institution Agache taking an archetypal 52% share, according to the Associated Press, portion the vigor drinks juggernaut acquires 11%.

Arnault said that compared to different clubs his household had identified much "interest and worth instauration than the others, not lone connected the sports side, but besides connected the branding side, which was the Paris FC."

"There is an anomaly successful French shot and successful Parisian football, that it is astir apt the lone large metropolis successful Europe with lone 1 large shot club. And Paris FC already has infrastructure, already has a large team, already has a beauteous history, but conscionable needs, financially, a small spot of a stronger shareholder to propulsion it to spell to the adjacent level," Arnault told CNBC's Charlotte Reed.

Compared with Qatari-owned titans Paris Saint-Germain, which has dominated French home shot for decades and attracted world-class stars and competed successful planetary tournaments, Paris FC is simply a little-known nine which past played successful the apical league successful the 1970s.

Asked by CNBC whether helium saw Paris FC arsenic a imaginable challenger, Arnault said: "That would beryllium precise immodest of us, to adjacent comparison ourselves to Paris Saint-German. The archetypal nonsubjective is to spell into League One and to spell up, past scale, and past to physique a beauteous nine with bully values that our fans emotion and that our fans respect and privation to travel backmost to the adjacent match."

"Not having the unit of clip to win is thing that's precise important, I think, to instrumentality the close decisions and to, yes, instrumentality a small spot of unit disconnected the shoulders of players who are nether a batch of accepted sports stress, which is positive, but sometimes besides with a large shareholder similar this, negative," helium said.

"We are not an concern fund. We're not asking them to triumph the Champions League successful three, five, 10 years, conscionable to bash the champion they tin and to springiness everything connected the pitch."

The squad are acceptable to summation further momentum from the caller assignment of Jürgen Klopp, who took English nine Liverpool to Premier League success, arsenic Red Bull's planetary caput of soccer. Klopp is expected to enactment with the Arnaults successful an advisory role.

Wealthy families and businesses person agelong eyed high-profile sports teams arsenic charismatic acquisitions, often arsenic a alleged "trophy asset" oregon for branding opportunities alternatively than arsenic a important moneymaker fixed the immense costs involved.

Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney since 2020 person spearheaded somewhat of a reverse strategy, purchasing tiny and struggling Welsh nine Wrexham AFC — past successful the 5th tier of English shot — and creating a globally palmy documentary astir their efforts to turnaround its fortunes and emergence done the leagues.

But the Arnault family's acquisition draws much comparisons with those of Red Bull, whose investments pulled some Leipzig and Salzberg into their home apical flights and gave them Red Bull-branded arenas — though drew important ire from fans of rival clubs successful the process.

Arnault told CNBC that if his household wanted a "trophy asset," they would person looked elsewhere.

"What we privation is to physique the communicative of resilience, physique a communicative of hard enactment with beauteous values," helium said.