Barcelona closed the financial year of the 2023-2024 season with 91 million losses. The negative figure is a consequence of the non-payment of 141 million that were not collected in the sale of Barça Vision, the commercial name of the subsidiary Bridgeburg Invest SL, to the German company Libero. For this reason, the Barça entity has had no choice but to make provision for the non-compliance of the German company. “As for the extraordinary results, the club has proceeded to impair a series of accounts receivable derived from the shares of the Bridgeburg company due to non-payment by some of the investment partners involved,” Barça stated. The economic area, on the other hand, celebrates the 12 million that were recorded in the ordinary results. A positive trend that the Catalan club expects to continue in the 2024-2025 academic year: five million net income.
In 2022, Barcelona’s Assembly of Compromising Members approved the sale of 49% of Barça Vision. The club was looking for strategic partners for its subsidiary in charge of the Web3 business, NFTs and the metaverse. According to the KPMG auditor, this Barça business area had a value of 400 million euros. LaLiga approved these numbers and Barça sold Orpheus media and Socios.com 24.5% of Barça Vision to each company. A few months later, the Libero company appeared on the scene to seize a package of those shares that belonged to Orpheus media and Socios.com. He bought, but did not pay. LaLiga, then, penalized Barça in the financial Fairplay – income had been accounted for that was not recorded – while Barcelona tried to reduce the negative effect of its losses with the appearance of Aramark (catering company) to keep the 10% of Barça Vision for 40 million.
The Barça entity, however, had to consider the unfulfilled balance lost. “The amount recognized as extraordinary expense amounts to 141 million euros before taxes,” Barcelona justified. It happens, however, that Barcelona still has Libero payments on its agenda until 2025. It already knows, in any case, that it will be difficult to collect them.
The Barça economic area remains optimistic. “The Club considers that there are sufficient reasons to justify the current value of the company and continues to trust in its viability and future capabilities, with an established business plan that will allow it to generate recurring income in the near future,” explained the Barça entity, which has with good news in your ordinary business. Barcelona boasts that BLM, the merchandising company, achieved a record turnover of 110 million, an increase of 72% compared to 2018.
The club also managed to reduce the salary bill. “A reduction of 170 million, from 670 million to just over 500. This reduction places the Club once again within the ratios recommended by UEFA (salary mass over recurring income between 55 and 70%) while maintaining the competitive level ( “We have returned to the quarterfinals of the Champions League), rejuvenating the team and structuring a squad with market salaries,” Barcelona reported. A salary mass that Barcelona plans to maintain in the current campaign.
