Silicon Valley billionaires splurge £144m on London Spirit in Hundred auction

The Hundred is set to deliver an eye-watering windfall for English cricket that exceeds all projections after a Silicon Valley consortium featuring the chief executives of Microsoft and Google claimed a 49% share in London Spirit for £144m.

It was the first of two sales to take place on Friday afternoon, with a 49% stake in Cardiff-based Welsh Fire later sold for a reported £35m. The England and Wales Cricket Board has now raised around £279m after similar stakes in Oval Invincibles (£60m) and Birmingham Phoenix (£40m) were claimed 24 hours earlier.

With four teams still to be auctioned off, the ECB is now on course to far exceed a combined target of £350m for its eight 49% stakes. The money raised is due to be shared among the 18 first-class counties, Marylebone Cricket Club and the recreational game, with host venues able to sell their remaining 51% if desired.

Defending champions in the women’s Hundred, but bottom feeders in three of the four men’s tournaments to date, London Spirit were always likely to attract the highest amount of interest given the prestige of co-owning teams that play home fixtures at Lord’s.

However, an overall valuation of £295m has still surpassed all expectations. After a three-hour auction – “a battle of the egos” according to one insider – the consortium led by Nikesh Arora, chief executive of cyber-security firm Palo Alto, prevailed.

This group, which also features Sundar Pichai (Google), Satya Nadella (Microsoft) and Shantanu Narayen (Adobe), will now begin a period of exclusivity with MCC to finalise the deal. They beat competition from Sanjiv Goenka, owner of Lucknow Super Giants, Avram Glazer’s Lancer Capital, and Cain International, led by Chelsea director Jonathan Goldstein and backed by the club’s joint-owner, Todd Boehly.

There will likely be a knock-on effect, with those who missed out still able to bid for stakes in the remaining teams. Goenka, who was tipped as favourite for the stake in London Spirit, only to finish runner-up, is now expected to turn his attention to Manchester Originals. If so, it could see a target of £100m for 49% of the Originals similarly surpassed when it is auctioned on Monday.

Of the first four teams sold, just one, Oval Invincibles, has returned a partner from the Indian Premier League. Reliance, owners of Mumbai Indians and run by the Ambani family, secured that stake on Thursday, with Birmingham City investors Knighthead claiming the right to buy 49% of Birmingham Phoenix later that day.

The ECB’s stake in Welsh Fire, the process for which was delayed by the bidding war for the right to partner with MCC, went to Sanjay Govil, a tech entrepreneur who also owns Washington Freedom in the USA’s Major League Cricket. It sees the franchise valued at £70m, the lowest of the four to date.

This year’s edition of the Hundred is expected to remain largely unchanged, with the impact of the new ownership model due to be felt from 2026 onwards. In some cases, it is likely to see fresh team names and colours introduced.