David Sullivan has revealed that he is seeking to sell 20 per cent of West Ham in order to raise much-needed revenue in order to slash the club's crippling debt.
Despite West Ham having spent two-and-a-half seasons back in the Premier League since they were relegated in Sullivan and Gold's first year at the club, the overall debt is still said to be around £110million - considerably higher it was that which the pair initially purchased the club in 2010.According to Sullivan, West Ham is currently worth around £400million - a huge increase on the £80million figure the Icelandic consortium paid former Chairman Terry Brown just eight years ago.
"We've no desire to give up the whole club," he Sullivan. "But we're still £110million in debt - albeit now £55million of that is to ourselves. So the third-party debt has been halved, but only because we've put the money in.
"We lost £30million when we went down and we made £10million on paper last year. What's on paper is not cash-flow and we have to pay down the debt all the time and we have to be clear of bank debt when we move to the Olympic Stadium.
"I'd love someone to come in and buy 20 per cent and the money would not go to us, it would go to the club. But we won't be giving it away and we'd want market value for it.
"Going to the Olympic Stadium, we are a £400million club and that would pay down most of the debt. But if it doesn't happen we'll dig deep in our pockets and keep the club afloat."
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