- M&A
- December 13, 2025
- 4 minutes read
Tether Makes Unsolicited $1B Bid For Soccer Club Juventus
Tether Limited, the company behind the world’s most widely used stablecoin, has made an unsolicited bid to acquire Italian soccer…
Tether Limited, the company behind the world’s most widely used stablecoin, has made an unsolicited bid to acquire Italian soccer club Juventus FC (BIT: JUVE). The El Salvador-based crypto giant has offered to acquire a 65.4% controlling stake in Juventus from Exor, a holding company of the prominent billionaire Agnelli family.
- The Agnelli family has controlled Juventus since 1923. Tether began buying Juventus shares this year and has built an 11.5% stake. Its takeover offer values Juventus at 1.1 billion euros ($1.3bn).
Exor, the Agnelli family holding company, seems highly averse to the offer. In a press statement, Exor said its board unanimously rejected the offer, and it “has no intention of selling any of its shares in Juventus to a third party, including but not restricted to El Salvador-based Tether.”
Tether’s chief executive, Paolo Ardoino, an Italian, is the driving force behind the offer. “For me, Juventus has always been part of my life,” he said in a press statement announcing Tether’s takeover offer. “I grew up with this team. As a boy, I learned what commitment, resilience, and responsibility meant by watching Juventus face success and adversity with dignity. Those lessons stayed with me long after the final whistle.”
The offer, swiftly rejected by Exor, pits Italian new money against old;
- Ardoino became Tether’s chief technology officer in 2017, two years after joining Bitfinex, a crypto exchange affiliated with the company. He transitioned to chief executive in 2023.
- The Agnellis are a powerful Italian business dynasty whose ascent began with Giovanni Agnelli (died 1945); he founded Italian automaker Fiat, which still accounts for a large share of the family’s current wealth. Giovanni was the son of Edoardo Agnelli, a prominent 19th-century Italian politician. Exor’s current chief executive is John Elkann, the great-great-grandson of Giovanni.
Tether Limited is behind the popular stablecoin of the same name. Tether (USDT), a cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar, is the most widely used stablecoin worldwide.
Over 186 billion USDT tokens are currently in circulation. Each token represents $1 in cash held in Tether’s reserve. Tether Limited invests the massive reserves in government treasuries and other assets like precious metals.
Tether retains the interest earned on its $186bn+ reserve assets; according to the company’s statement, it generated a sky-high $13bn in profit in 2024. This year, the company says it expects to earn $15bn in profit. With these figures, money isn’t an obstacle to acquiring Juventus; Exor’s refusal is the force Tether has to contend with.
- Juventus, long dominant in the Italian Serie A league, has struggled in recent years. It last won the Serie A title in 2020 and currently ranks seventh in the league.
