Chien Lee is a Chinese-American entrepreneur, investor, and sports team owner. He has built a multi-club ownership model, owns multiple professional European football clubs and is a well-known investor in European football.
Lee is the founder and Chairman of NewCity Capital, a private investment firm, co-owner of FC Thun, co-owner of K.V. Oostende, chairman and co-owner of Nancy, co-owner of Esbjerg fB, co-owner of FC Den Bosch, co-owner of 1. FC Kaiserslautern, co-owner of GKS Tychy FC former owner and Chairman of OGC Nice and co-founder of 7 Days Inn.
The Financial Times stated that Lee has refined Moneyball and The Wall Street Journal called Lee's football journey "a Moneyball experiment in English soccer".
Career
Lee is the founder, chairman, and CEO of NewCity Capital, a private investment company, focused on the sport and hospitality industries. In August 1989, he founded Lee Holdings Company Inc., a US-based investment company focused on the acquisition of real estate assets. Later in 2005, Lee actively invested in the hospitality Industry, co-founding 7 Days Inn (NYSE: SVN), one of the largest budget hotel chains in China. In 2014, Lee invested in The Grand Ho Tram Strip in Vietnam, one of the region's largest integrated resorts.
In 2016, Lee forayed into professional sports investment and acquired multiple European soccer clubs, building one of the largest portfolios in the world. As of April 2023, Lee has invested in 9 European football clubs. He has created an internal infrastructure and a management team who are able to operate businesses in multiple countries, each with its own unique culture, language, and operational differences. His multi-club ownership is acknowledged as a unique business model in the world's most popular sport.
In a 2018 interview with Forbes, Lee stated that as a long-term investor in football, he would use a data approach to identify talents, focusing on young players on the sporting side, and balancing the budget on the business side. His strategy contrasts sharply with that of many other investors currently in European football, where huge sums of money are invested in marquee players and success is expected overnight. Lee's ambition to build a European football empire continues as his soccer portfolio keeps expanding; the multi-club ownership gives Lee advantages beyond talent recruitment, capitalizing on the global reach of soccer and maximizing lucrative sponsorship revenues, as well as helping the football clubs grow and become more competitive.
Sports/Europe football
Multi-club ownership
Lee's first foray into professional sports was in purchasing French top-tier soccer team OGC Nice FC in June 2016.<ref>[http://www.chinagoabroad.com/en/recent_transaction/chinese-american-investors-acquire-french-football-club-niceChinese, American investors acquire French football club Nice""]</ref> Subsequently, Lee tried to acquire more European soccer teams. In September 2016, Lee held advanced takeover talks with Hull City FC owner Assem Allam."Hull City begin takeover talks with new consortium fronted by Chinese American businessman Chien Lee" After formally ending his takeover bid for Hull City FC in November, Lee made an offer to buy Middlesbrough FC, but was rejected by club owner Steve Gibson in January 2017. In April 2017, Lee was in talks with Brentford FC owner Matthew Benham over a potential bid for the club. Lee was attracted by Brentford FC’s location in London which is close to Heathrow Airport and its stadium development plans."Chien Lee in talks to buy 50 per cent stake in Brentford"- Skysports In December 2017, Lee acquired Barnsley FC from the Cryne family. Later in June 2019, Lee attempted to buy Partick Thistle FC. In November 2019, Lee also invested in FC Thun Football Club.
In January 2020, it was reported that Lee was in the race to buy KV Oostende, competing with David Blitzer, co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils."Nieuwe Amerikaanse koper voor KV Oostende" After selling French football club OGC Nice to Great Britain's richest man, Jim Ratcliffe back in August 2019, Lee wanted to return to French football. Already the owner of the Barnsley FC in England and FC Thun in Switzerland, Lee looked to expand his portfolio once more. After prospecting several French clubs, Lee set his sights on Toulouse and its football club and entered into exclusive negotiations to buy Toulouse FC in March 2020."What to Expect If Businessman Chien Lee Gets TFC"