A serial US businessman has sold his 43% stake in Crystal Palace FC to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson for around £175m.
The fast-paced transaction has been completed to allow for the South London club to compete in a European competition for the first time after UEFA raised concerns due to John Textor’s stake in French side Lyon.
The Eagles secured qualification for the Europa League in May after winning a first major trophy, the FA Cup, in May thanks to a 1-0 win over Manchester City.
However, plans for a European tour were temporarily put on hold for Palace due to its majority shareholder, tech mogul Textor, holding a majority share of fellow Europa League 2025/26 competitors Lyon.
Textor, the retired chairman of US-based streaming service fuboTV, is also the leading shareholder in Brazilian club Botafogo and Belgian side Racing White Daring Molenbeek FC. He has now been linked with a takeover at Championship club Sheffield Wednesday.
Along with his footballing interests, Textor is recognised worldwide for his development of technologies and creative content, as well as digital distribution business models for media, entertainment and the internet.
Between 2013 and 2020, he served as the CEO of FaceBank Group, a developer of digital human likeness for celebrities and consumers, which was acquired by fuboTV in April 2020.
Prior to this, in 1997, the Wesleyan University graduate founded Florida-based Wyndcrest Holdings, LLC.
The company focused on technology-related opportunities in entertainment, telecommunications and the internet, arguably best known for its support of the then-struggling Art Technology Group (ATG), a principal pioneer of internet personalisation technology.
ATG received a $2.4m investment from Wyndcrest and ultimately achieved a liquid $10.5bn valuation in its 1999 IPO.
Within Wyndcrest, Textor also took on the role of chairman and CEO of BabyUniverse, a leading ecommerce business which sold baby-related products.
Textor saved the Floridian firm from insolvency with a $300,000 investment in 2001, increasing annual revenues from $1m to $40m before eventually selling the company in 2007 for a fee in the region of $90m.
Textor launched Pulse Evolution Corporation (PLFX) in 2013, aiming to disrupt the tech market once again with the development of hyper-realistic digital humans for holographic live performances, virtual reality, augmented reality and AI.
He is credited as the mastermind behind the 2012 appearance of Virtual Tupac Shakur at the Coachella Valley Music Festival and the performance of Virtual Michael Jackson at the 2014 Billboard Music Awards, generating more than 100m YouTube views and 98bn internet impressions worldwide.
Regarding Textor’s sale to Johnson, a statement from Crystal Palace FC was released, which read: “Crystal Palace Football Club can confirm that Robert Wood Johnson, ‘Woody’, an American businessman and co-owner of the New York Jets, has signed a legally binding contract to purchase Eagle Football’s holding in the club.
“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.
“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.”