When Tony Bloom took over Brighton & Hove Albion in 2009, the Seagulls were a lower-league team on a downward spiral.
Within two years, Albion had moved from their ramshackle temporary Withdean Stadium home into the impressive modern Amex Stadium, which was largely bankrolled by their astronomically wealthy owner.
They became a Championship team, establishing themselves in the second tier before eventually winning promotion to the Premier League.
This season they have gone from strength to strength, despite losing manager Graham Potter to a short-lived spell at Chelsea, and they even had a potentially decisive say in the title race with their 3-0 thrashing of Arsenal on May 14.
What is Tony Bloom's story? How has he amassed his fortune and what is his net worth? The Sporting News takes a look at Brighton's benefactor.
Chairman Tony Bloom being thrown in the air by #BHAFC's promotion-winning squad in front of thousands of fans. pic.twitter.com/0uYeW2bW61
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) May 14, 2017
Who is Tony Bloom?
Born in March 1970, Bloom comes from a family of Brighton fans including a director and a former vice-chairman of the club.
Before becoming Brighton owner, Bloom was best known as a professional poker player, using skills which are thought to have served him well in football.
Bloom is the man behind betting consultancy StarLizard. He turned 53 during the 2022/23 season and, although he is not as outspoken as some club chairmen, he does give occasional interviews to Brighton's media department, as well as being a popular figure among fans when he is spotted by them at games.
Racing fans know Bloom for his ownership of horses as much as his role at Brighton. Among his stable, Energumene won the 2022 Champion Chase.
😍 Brighton’s first win of the day! 🤞#BHAFC owner-chairman Tony Bloom celebrates after his horse Energumene won the Betway Queen Mother Champion at Cheltenham! 😄pic.twitter.com/AZPN22Gaey
— Seagulls Central (@SeagullsCentral) March 16, 2022
How Tony Bloom earns his money
Named after Bloom's poker nickname of 'The Lizard', StarLizard is a hugely successful operation that uses an army of analysts to capture data from matches in leagues across the world.
StarLizard sells data to gamblers and informs the workings of Bloom's own gambling syndicate. The data it uses is thought to inform Brighton's consistently productive transfer policy, which has seen the club unearth a raft of relatively unknown players and turn them into Premier League regulars during Bloom's tenure, sometimes moving on to other clubs for large fees.
Elsewhere, Bloom reportedly has private equity and other financial interests, with the Telegraph reporting his property investments to be worth millions in 2009.
MORE: Brighton trophies won in club history
Tony Bloom Brighton stake
Bloom acquired a 75 percent stake in the club when he took over at Brighton from revered former chairman Dick Knight.
When he was asked about the possibility of foreign investors taking over the club in future, Bloom said in 2016: "They, for sure, are interested in Brighton through third parties and different middle people.
"They've expressed an interest in taking over and I've rejected it because I've no interest in doing so. Who knows in the future? It's a long future but, right now, I have no intention of doing that."
Tony Bloom net worth
Bloom's net worth is hard to estimate, but several reports have put his personal fortune at around £1.3 billion ($1.6bn).
When it suggested his worth was a more modest £765 million ($952m) in 2022, the Sussex Express said that put Bloom 15th on the list of the Premier League's richest owners.
Brighton club value
Earning promotion to the Premier League was predictably transformative for Brighton: in 2019, the value of the club rose to £224m ($279m), local newspaper The Argus reported.
However, the club recorded losses of £270m ($336m) in the four seasons to 2021/22, their accounts showed, and remained highly reliant on Bloom, to whom they were £499m ($621m) in debt at that point.
Brighton also paid £3m ($3.7m) to StarLizard in consultancy fees in 2021/22, although that represents good value given that the firm's analytics help them to sign players who realise a huge sell-on value for modest sums, such as midfielders Moises Caicedo and Kaoru Mitoma.
In more recent seasons, Brighton have made the occasional lucrative player sale an integral part of their model, depending on it to turn a profit each year.
The most high-profile of those has been Moises Caicedo, who joined Chelsea for an initial £100m ($126.8m) in August 2023.
That is likely to become a Premier League record transfer fee, with appearance-based extras set to make the total fee £115m ($145.9m).
Ben White's departure to Arsenal for £50m ($62m), fellow defender Marc Cucurella's move to Chelsea for £62m ($77m) and former manager Graham Potter's switch to Chelsea for £21m ($26m) were among the deals that helped Albion record a profit in their most recently published accounts.
