Jets Owner Woody Johnson agrees to buy 43% of Premier League club Crystal Palace
New York Jets owner Woody Johnson has agreed to purchase 43% of Premier League Club Crystal Palace from American businessman John Textor.
On Monday, the club announced the $245 million agreement, which is pending approval from the Premier League. Johnson also needs to pass the Owners and Directors' Test, known as the Fit and Proper Persons Test, for the transaction to get a green light.
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"Whilst the completion is pending approval from the Premier League and Women's Super League, we do not envisage any issues and look forward to welcoming Woody as a partner and director of the club," Palace the club statement read.
"We would like to go on record to thank John Textor for his contribution over the past four years and wish him every success for the future."
Johnson's bid for Palace comes after he failed to buy London club Chelsea in 2022, following his service as the U.S. ambassador to the U.K. from 2017 to 2021. The 78-year-old attempted to buy the Blues after the U.K. government sanctioned the previous owner, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. BlueCo, led by American businessman Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, bought Chelsea for £4.25 billion (approximately $5.25 billion) in May 2022.
Approval of his latest bid would mean Palace would avoid breaching the multi-club ownership rule due to Textor's Eagle Football Holdings owning a stake in Ligue 1 side Lyon. This would factor into allowing the Eagles to compete in the UEFA Europa League next season.
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While Textor owns a sizable portion of the club, the day-to-day operations are mostly overseen by chairman Steve Parish and U.S. investors Josh Harris, the majority owner of the Washington Commanders NFL franchise, and David Blitzer, who holds a minority stake in the same team. Nonetheless, UEFA prevents teams with the same ownership from competing in the same leagues.
The only way for Textor to maintain ownership in both clubs and for them to participate in the Europa League is to place his shares in one of the clubs into a blind trust, which he missed the March 1 deadline for.
ESPN previously reported that Textor tried to offload his shares at Crystal Palace with Johnson as the frontrunner to acquire his stake.
Crystal Palace finished 12th in the Premier League with a 13-14-11 (W-D-L) this past season and secured a Europa League slot after winning the FA Cup.
Johnson bought the Jets for $635 million in 2000. Bloomberg estimates his net worth at $9.18 billion.
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Image Credit: Courtesy of Stand4Socks What were some of the first steps you took to get your side hustle off the ground? At the time, I was a 23-year-old millennial who saw the power of the internet and how big of a factor that could be on the success of my business. One of the first things I did was learn to code and build a website; this was before even having socks or a factory. In my mind, I thought getting socks would be easy (turns out it wasn't) and learning to code would be one of the harder business challenges to overcome. Secondly, I couldn't afford a graphic designer or really any external expertise. So, I took it upon myself to learn graphic design using Illustrator and how to design socks. I used YouTube to learn both things, not courses, because I couldn't afford them. 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At this stage in my career, being so junior, I had no say, even though my gut was telling me there was a better way. Running my own business gives me an opportunity to take risks and course correct in real time. Sometimes those risks lead to flops, but other times, they've led to great success. The sense of freedom to build something your way is what keeps me going. Related: She Quit Her Job at Trader Joe's After Starting a Side Hustle With $800 — Then She and Her Brother Grew the Business to $20 Million What is your best piece of specific, actionable business advice? Enjoy the journey. It's going to be way harder than you think when you set out, but also way more rewarding than you'd ever expect. Don't get overly caught up in milestones — appreciate the process. Also, the answer is always "no" if you don't ask the question. So many people stop themselves from reaching out because of the fear of being rejected. But if the answer is already "no" in your head, and you reach out and get a "no," then nothing's changed. Don't be afraid to reach out to people because you might just get a yes. Image Credit: Courtesy of Stand4Socks That mindset has taken me to some wild places. One of the most surreal examples? I ended up spending a week with Sir Richard Branson on his private Necker Island. That experience didn't come from deep connections or privilege: It came from asking bold, often unreasonable questions and walking through doors some may have felt they had no business knocking on. Richard gave me a piece of advice that has stuck with me: "Hire people smarter than you, and then get out of their way." It's brilliant in theory, but when you bootstrap and are living in places like New York City, you often can't afford to hire those people. So my approach has been to learn just the basics — whether development, sock design, marketing, etc. — and then delegate effectively. Don't try to be an expert in everything, but have enough foundational knowledge to guide someone who is. Want to read more stories like this? Subscribe to Money Makers, our free newsletter packed with creative side hustle ideas and successful strategies. Sign up here.
