Barcelona activates ‘fourth lever’ with further €100 million prodco sale

FC Barcelona have sold a 24.5% stake in content business Barcelona Studios in a deal worth €100 million to production company Orpheus Media.

This is the second such sell-off of the studio, and comes several weeks after selling the same percentage to digital fan token firm Socios.com.

Orpheus Media is managed by Jaume Roures, the co-founder and CEO of Barcelona-based multimedia communications group Mediapro. Roures, who spent two years between 1969-71 as a political prisoner during the Francoist dictatorship, contributed €30 million towards the election of Barcelona club president Joan Laporta in 2021.

Last week, Spanish top flight league LaLiga told the club – which is the most indebted club in world football, owing over €1.3 billion to various lenders including €673 million to banks – to activate its fourth ‘economic lever’ of the summer in order to register players for the new season. 

Announcing the deal in an official statement, the club said: “With this investment the strategic partners in Barça Studios show confidence in the value of the project and the future of digital content in the world of sport.”

The club previously sold 25% of its LaLiga TV rights for the next 25 years to US investment firm Sixth Street in two deals worth over €500 million.

The latest Barcelona Studios sale went through ahead of the initial registration window for the first weekend of the season, though the club still needs to generate more revenue via player sales and further deals in order to register its latest signing, French defender Jules Koundé.

Despite the highly publicised squad rebuild that has seen the signing of global superstar Robert Lewandowski, Barcelona laboured to a 0-0 draw during the opening weekend at home to Rayo Vallecano.