Google, Microsoft, Adobe CEOs Buy Stakes in Cricket League

The Hundred, a fast-paced cricket league created by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2021, is finalizing new investments into its eight teams worth a combined £520 million ($624 million). The list is full of notable U.S. names in business and sports—just the latest example of American capital flooding into European sports ownership. 

Over a quarter of the new investments—£144 million ($173 million)—was pledged by an ownership group led by Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora that also includes tech CEOs Sundar Pichai (Google), Satya Nadella (Microsoft), and Shantanu Narayen (Adobe). That group bought a 49% stake in the London Spirit.

Another group, Knighthead Capital Management, successfully bid £40 million for a 49% stake in the Birmingham Phoenix—a natural outgrowth of its ownership of Birmingham City football club.

Knighthead was also behind Tom Brady buying a stake in Major League Pickleball in 2022 and in Birmingham City football club in 2023. According to a source close to Brady, he came very close to investing in The Hundred with Knighthead, but did not. (Initially, a number of media outlets including Front Office Sports reported that Brady did invest, but that source has clarified that while Brady has made sports investments with Knighthead, he is not an investor in Knighthead.)

Other successful bidders include Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, which owns the Mumbai Indians cricket team, and private equity firms Cain International and Ares Management (the latter of which received approval from NFL owners in December to purchase a 10% stake in the Miami Dolphins). 

After the investments, the total valuation for the eight teams is £975 million ($1.17 billion). 

When the ECB launched The Hundred in 2021, each host county held a 51% stake in its local franchise (both men’s and women’s) and the ECB retained a 49% stake. The ECB auctioned off its stakes in January to raise investment dollars that can “safeguard the future of cricket in England and Wales at all levels.”

Roughly 10% of that is earmarked for recreational cricket, with the remainder going to counties that host “first-class” cricket teams, whether they have a team in The Hundred or not. 

The league said the funds will go toward reducing debt, building up reserves, and generating future revenue. And the high-profile ownership doesn’t hurt either.

In all, it’s a big sum for a tournament that only runs in July and August.

Cricket tournaments are traditionally long affairs, with some lasting at least three days. But the ECB, aiming to grow the game on the island of its birth, has a history of innovating. In 2003, it created T20 cricket, an abbreviated format that cut the game to about three to three and a half hours. The Hundred reduces that further, creating a television-ready product for Sky Sports and the BBC that spans two and a half hours. 

Editor’s note: As explained in the story above, an earlier version of this story incorrectly said that Tom Brady participated in the investment in The Hundred.