Vanessa Gold, who has led West Ham United as joint-chair since her father David’s death in 2023, announced an agreement to sell her family’s 25.1 percent shareholding to a consortium headed by Amanda Staveley and her husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi, along with PCP Capital Partners and Ashland Forest Capital Partners. A legally binding agreement has been signed between the parties.
The transaction remains contingent upon a pre-emption process that grants current shareholders the right to purchase the shares instead. The club indicated this process would take approximately two months to complete. During this period, the ownership structure of West Ham will not change, and day-to-day club operations will proceed normally as the team prepares for the upcoming season.
Gold’s decision comes after a previous agreement reached with co-owner Daniel Kretinsky in June fell through. Kretinsky had been set to become the largest shareholder by acquiring the Gold family’s stake, which would have increased his holding to 43 percent. Following the announcement of the new deal with Staveley’s consortium, co-owner David Sullivan issued a statement expressing disappointment and indicating the club would review all options, including exercising pre-emption rights.
Staveley previously played a key role in facilitating a Saudi-backed consortium’s acquisition of Newcastle United in October 2021. She and Ghodoussi oversaw Newcastle’s subsequent rise to Champions League participation before their departure in summer 2024, after which the club won the Carabao Cup. West Ham, which dropped out of the Premier League at the end of the previous season, is scheduled to begin its Championship campaign on August 16 against Burnley.
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