Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks is reportedly in talks with AS Roma over a possible a takeover, according to several reports in Italy. Apparently, Hicks has been pressuring Roma President Franco Sensi to sell the club for several months, although the situation has only just been brought to the media’s attention.
The 61-year-old Dallas native has a varied business past, co-founding the investment firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst in 1989 before establishing his sports empire Hicks, Inc. with the Southwest Group, which owns Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers, the National Hockey League’s Dallas Stars and the Mesquite Championship Rodeo competition. Last January, Hicks and fellow sports tycoon George Gillett purchased
Liverpool Football Club of the English Premier League. The American has an estimated wealth of over $1 billion.
If Hicks succeeds in his bid to purchase Roma, he would become the first foreign owner in Serie A. Unlike the English Premiership, which has welcomed and even encouraged foreign investment and ownership for the past decade, all 20 Serie A teams are owned and operated by Italian businessmen.