David Beckham is £5mln richer as cannabis firm sees premium stock market debut
Cannabis-based consumer products firm Cellular Goods saw high demand for its stock market IPO which was thirteen-times oversubscribed.
David Beckham got £5mln richer on Friday as cannabis firm () became his second investment to float in London in less than six months.
Becks is evidently becoming a serial stock market player.
Through the DB Ventures vehicle Beckham holds around 5% of Cellular, for which he reportedly paid around £250,000, along with a stake in 2020 float , which arrived on the London bourse in a £20mln IPO back in October.
Cellular has developed premium skincare and sports recovery products featuring cannabinoids.
Its stock market IPO was said to be thirteen-times oversubscribed, raised £13mln and valued the business at £25mln.
Beckhams 5% shareholding was worth around £5.6mln as the Cellular shares changed public hands as trading got underway.
DB Ventures has been under the full control of David and Victoria Beckham since 2019, when the celebrity power couple bought out business partner Simon Fuller, paying US$50mln for his 33% stake.
As well as Cellular and Guild, DB Ventures also holds Beckham’s partnerships with Adidas and his interests in a partnership with Diageo for the Haig Club whisky brand.
Earlier this month, the former England captain reportedly invested a further £11mln into the Inter Miami franchise in America’s Major League Soccer.
Beckham is just one of a swelling number of football players and celebrities to build wealth through investments.
Rio Ferdinand, a former defender and teammate of Beckham, recently invested in Sokin – a fintech platform which describes itself as ‘the Spotify of payments’. The app charges users £9.99 per month for an unlimited number of international payments.
How rich is Mathieu Flamini?
Whilst it is a toss-up which of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are the ‘greatest of all time’ (GOAT), and, as is their status as the game’s best paid. But, neither can compete with former Arsenal defensive midfielder Mathieu Flamini as the ‘richest’ (if you believe the headlines at least).
Flamini is a co-founder in GF Biochemicals which is an early mover that is described as having a leadership position in the production of Levulinic acid, a biofuel made from plant waste.
Media reports have put Flamini’s net worth in the billions, though he has subsequently said that he is not in fact a billionaire – rather the suggested €30bn value for his part-owned company is actually the size of the market opportunity it is “attacking”.
Another notable former North London footballer in the investment industry is Switzerland and ex-Tottenham defender Ramon Vega.
Ramon Vega – hedge fund manager
Vega retired from football in 2003 and moved into the hedge fund game – gathering funds under management of up to US$1bn at one stage, but, more recently his London based boutique was wound up.
The former centre back pointed to Brexit as a factor in shutting up shop although, according to media reports, a company acting as the fund’s liquidator had said there was no other options and the fund would be closed anyway due to investment losses.
In 2019, Vega vowed to challenge Gianni Infantino as an alternative candidate to run FIFA as the football federations president (he later failed to get the backing of a sufficient number of national football associations).
Poker, Horses and Salford City
Ex-Everton and Real Madrid defensive midfielder Thomas Gravesen took up professional poker, and it said to be worth £100mln though other reports claim he lost £54mln in one night of cards.
Former Liverpool strikers Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen have built fortunes in residential real estate and horse racing stables respectively.
Chinese international and former Manchester City player Sun Jihai set up a sports data analytics businesses with the backing of Chinese investment groups.
Meanwhile, ex captain and current Sky Sports pundit (and…
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