Cryptocurrency money printing machine seeks to acquire Juventus: A battle between old and new money in Europe.

Original author: Sleepy.txt, Beating

Tether, the world's largest stablecoin giant, is preparing to acquire Juventus, Italy's most iconic football club.

On December 12, Tether submitted a takeover offer to the Italian stock exchange, seeking to acquire Exor Group's 65.4% stake in Juventus for €2.66 per share, a price 20.74% higher than the market price. If the deal goes through, Tether will also inject an additional €1 billion into the club.

This was an all-cash offer. There were no bets, no conditions attached, just "cash on delivery." In the world of capital, this was the most blatant expression of sincerity, and Tether gave the Exor Group only 10 days to consider it.

However, Exor Group, controlled by the Agnelli family, quickly issued a statement: "There are currently no negotiations regarding the sale of Juventus shares."

The implication is clear: not for sale.

Less than 24 hours later, renowned Italian journalist Eleonora Trotta reported that Tether was prepared to double its offer, directly raising Juventus' valuation to 2 billion euros.

The person standing at the eye of the storm is named Paolo Ardoino.

Paolo was born in 1984 in an ordinary small town in Italy. His parents were civil servants, and his grandparents ran a traditional olive grove. It was a typical Italian childhood: the black and white striped jerseys, the cheers at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, and the glory of the Agnelli family together formed the spiritual totem of his growing memories.

Thirty-two years later, the boy under the olive tree has grown into the Caesar of the cryptocurrency world, managing Tether, a super money-printing machine with annual profits of $13 billion. Now, he returns home in glory, attempting to buy back his childhood dream and give back to the black-and-white faith flowing in his blood.

But reality taught those sentiments a lesson.

When Paolo knocked on Juventus' door with great enthusiasm, he was greeted not with flowers or applause, but with nine months of exclusion and humiliation from the old world.

Nine months of being ostracized

The honeymoon period began in a way that was almost like unrequited love.

In February 2025, Tether announced it had acquired an 8.2% stake in Juventus, becoming its second-largest shareholder after Exor Group. In the official statement, Paolo set aside his businessman's shrewdness and revealed a rare softer side: "For me, Juventus has always been a part of my life."

Paolo thought it was a mutually beneficial deal: I have money, you need money, we're a perfect match. However, in Italy, some doors can't be opened with money alone.

Two months later, Juventus announced a capital injection plan of up to €110 million. At this critical moment when the club desperately needed a boost, Paolo, the second-largest shareholder, was deliberately "forgotten." No phone calls, no emails, not a single explanation. The Exor Group didn't even bother to give him a friendly welcome.

Paolo posted a frustrated message on social media: "We hoped to increase our stake in Juventus through a possible capital increase by the club, but this wish was ignored."

Paolo has probably never felt so frustrated in his life. A financial behemoth managing an annual profit of $13 billion could only use social media to "remind" Juventus: I want to participate in the capital increase, I want to increase my investment, but I was ignored.

Some sympathize with Paolo, believing he is a true Juventus fan; others question his motives, thinking he simply wants to use Juventus to whitewash Tether's image.

Regardless of whether the outside world sympathizes or questions, in the eyes of the Agnelli family, Paolo is still an "outsider," and the relationship between the two sides was never one of cooperation, but rather one of "defense."

Since sentimentality can't buy respect, then let's buy it with money.

From April to October, Tether increased its stake from 8.2% to 10.7% through the open market. Under Italian law, a shareholder holding more than 10% has the right to nominate board members.

November 7, Turin, Juventus annual shareholders' meeting. The atmosphere was unpredictable due to Tether's interference.

Tether nominated Francesco Garino, a renowned Turin doctor and lifelong Juventus fan, as a candidate for the board. Paolo is trying to tell everyone: We are not barbarians, we are sons of Turin, bound by blood.

The shrewd Exor Group then played its trump card: Giorgio Chiellini. This legendary captain, who played for Juventus for 17 years and won 9 Serie A trophies, was thrust into the spotlight.

This is Exor's strategy: using legends to fight against capital, and using sentiment to fight against money.

Although Tether ultimately won a hard-won seat on the board, in a board that is absolutely controlled by the Agnelli family, a seat means you can listen in and offer suggestions, but you can forget about touching the steering wheel.

John Elkann, the fifth-generation head of the Agnelli family, concluded: "We are proud to have been a shareholder of Juventus for over a century. We have no intention of selling our shares, but we are open to constructive ideas from all stakeholders."

To put it more bluntly: This isn't just a business; it's our family's territory. You can come in and have tea, but don't even think about being the master of this place.

Old Money's Arrogance and Prejudice

John's words reflect a family's 102 years of glory and pride.

On July 24, 1923, 31-year-old Edoardo Agnelli took the reins of Juventus. From that day forward, the Agnelli family's fate was inextricably linked with that of Juventus. For much of the 20th century, the family's Fiat automobile empire was Italy's largest private enterprise, employing countless workers and supporting millions of families.

Juventus, on the other hand, is another symbol of this family's power. With 36 Serie A titles, 2 Champions League titles, and 14 Coppa Italia titles, Juventus is the most successful club in Italian football history and one of the sources of Italian national pride.

However, the Agnelli family's history of succession is filled with bloodshed and rifts.

In 2000, Edoardo Agnelli, heir to the Agnelli family fortune, jumped from a viaduct, ending his battle with depression. Three years later, family patriarch Gianni Agnelli passed away. The baton of power had to be passed to his grandson, John Elkann.

John was born in New York and grew up in Paris. He speaks English, French, and Italian, but his Italian has a distinct foreign accent. To many old-school Italians, he is merely an agent who has gained power through blood ties.

John spent a full 20 years proving himself worthy of the Agnelli family.

He restructured Fiat, acquired Chrysler, and created Stellantis, the world's fourth-largest automotive group; he took Ferrari public, doubling its market value; he bought The Economist, extending the Agnelli family's influence from Italy to the world.

Worse still, the rift within the family is becoming public. In September 2025, John Elkann's mother, Margherita, filed a 1998 "will" with a Turin court, claiming that John had misappropriated the inheritance left to her by her father, Gianni. This court battle between mother and son is a major scandal in Italy, a country that values family honor.

Against this backdrop, selling Juventus would be tantamount to acknowledging the end of the family's glory and admitting that they are not as good as their ancestors.

In an effort to save Juventus, John is frantically selling off his other assets.

Just days before Tether made its takeover offer, Exor Group was busy selling its GEDI media group to the Greek media conglomerate Antenna Group for €140 million. GEDI owns two major media outlets, La Repubblica and La Stampa, whose status in Italy is comparable to that of Juventus in Italian football.

The news caused an uproar in Italy. The Italian government even invoked the "Golden Powers" law, requiring Exor to protect jobs and editorial independence during the sale process.

A newspaper losing money is a liability and should be cut; Juventus losing money is an icon and should be kept.

This choice exposed the predicament of the old aristocracy. They were no longer able to maintain their former territories and could only try to preserve the one that best represented their family's glory.

Therefore, despite Paolo's acquisition offer having a market premium of up to 20%, John Elkann still viewed it as a threat.

In the values of old-money Europe, there is a hierarchy of wealth based on its quality.

Every copper coin in the Agnelli family's possessions is imbued with the smell of machine oil. It is an industrial monument forged from steel, rubber, the roar of engines, and the sweat of millions of workers. This wealth is visible and tangible; it represents order, control, and a social contract that has lasted for a century.

Paolo's money comes from cryptocurrency, from an industry that has grown wildly and controversially over the past decade.

The lessons learned from the past are still fresh in our minds.

Just a few years ago, blockchain company DigitalBit signed an €85 million sponsorship deal with two Italian Serie A giants, Inter Milan and Roma. However, DigitalBit defaulted on the sponsorship fee due to a broken cash flow, forcing the two clubs to terminate the contract and leaving a mess behind.

Not to mention the series of crashes in the cryptocurrency industry in 2022. At that time, Luna's logo hung in the Washington Nationals' arena, and FTX was named after the Miami Heat's home stadium. In the Agnelli family's view, the cryptocurrency industry was rife with speculation and bubbles.

In the eyes of the Agnelli family, Paolo will always be an "outsider." Not because of his background, but because of his money.

A totem that needs to be saved

But the problem is, Juventus really needs money.

Juventus is currently mired in a quagmire, all because of July 10, 2018, when they announced the signing of 33-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo. The transfer fee was €100 million, with a net annual salary of €30 million for a four-year contract.

This was the biggest transfer in Serie A history, and also the highest salary in Serie A history. Andrea Agnelli, then president of Juventus and the fourth generation head of the Agnelli family, excitedly stated at the shareholders' meeting: "This is the most important signing in Juventus' history. We will win the Champions League with Ronaldo."

Turin was in an uproar. Fans flocked to Juventus stores, snapping up jerseys emblazoned with Cristiano Ronaldo's name. In just 24 hours after the signing, the club sold over 520,000 jerseys, setting a new record in football history. Everyone believed that Ronaldo would lead Juventus to the pinnacle of European football.

Juventus failed to win the Champions League. In 2019, they were overtaken by Ajax; in 2020, they were eliminated by Lyon; and in 2021, they were defeated by Porto. In August 2021, Cristiano Ronaldo suddenly left the team to join Manchester United. Juventus not only failed to recoup its investment but also sank into a deeper financial quagmire.

Actuaries later calculated the total cost, including transfer fees, salary, and taxes, bringing the total cost of signing Cristiano Ronaldo to a staggering €340 million. During his three years at Juventus, he scored 101 goals, averaging €2.8 million per goal.

For a club of Juventus' size, the Champions League is more about cash flow than trophy recognition: broadcast revenue, matchday income, and sponsorship bonuses are all tied to it. Losing the Champions League would immediately drastically reduce their financial standing, forcing the team to use accounting tricks to cover the shortfall.

Juventus sold Miralem Pjanic to Spanish giants Barcelona for €60 million while simultaneously acquiring Arthur from Barcelona for €72 million. Officially, both deals were claimed to be unrelated, but everyone knew it was a carefully orchestrated transaction. Juventus only actually paid a €12 million cash difference, but could record tens of millions of euros in "capital gains" on their books.

This kind of accounting practice is not uncommon in the football world, but Juventus went too far.

Prosecutors' investigation revealed that over three years, the club inflated its profits by €282 million through 42 similar suspicious transactions. Following the scandal's exposure, the entire board of directors, including Chairman Andrea Agnelli, resigned.

This was followed by penalties for the team: deduction of league points, exclusion from the Champions League, and long-term bans for executives. This further led to an even more terrible vicious cycle: declining team performance resulted in a sharp drop in revenue, which in turn prevented the team from making signings, and the inability to make signings led to even worse performance.

Starting with a loss of €39.6 million in the 2018-19 season, Juventus' financial situation has been on a downward spiral, reaching a loss of €123.7 million by the 2022-23 season. From its peak of nine consecutive Serie A titles to its current massive losses year after year, in November 2025, the Exor Group will have to inject nearly €100 million into Juventus again.

This marks the third time in two years that the Exor Group has injected capital into Juventus. The Exor Group also owns assets such as Ferrari, Stellantis, and The Economist magazine, and Juventus's continued losses are eroding the group's overall profits. In its 2024 financial report, the Exor Group's net profit fell by 12%, and analysts pointed out that Juventus has become a negative asset dragging down the group's performance.

John Elkann was caught in a dilemma, unsure of what to do.

And Paolo, with $13 billion in annual profits, is knocking on the door. He has plenty of money, plenty of patience, and plenty of love for Juventus.

This should have been a perfect deal, if it weren't for the mountain called "class" standing in the way.

Dreams Under the Olive Tree

Paolo's knocking went unanswered, so he made his own choice.

On December 12, Paolo bypassed all private roundtable meetings and directly announced the offer through the Italian stock exchange. Paolo cornered John Elkann, forcing him to answer the question in front of all of Italy: money or family reputation.

The news sent Juventus's stock price soaring, reflecting the market's eagerness for "new money." Both *La Gazzetta dello Sport* and *Tuttosport* featured the story on their front pages, and the entire Italian peninsula awaited the Agnelli family's decision.

The Agnelli family's refusal was both expected and unexpected.

As expected, the Agnelli family's pride wouldn't allow them to bow to new money. Unexpectedly, given their current financial situation, refusing this enormous sum would require an almost tragic stubbornness.

For Paolo, the hope was to use his earnings to save his childhood idol. Ultimately, businesses have a nationality; while Tether is a globally operating digital nomadic company, its CEO is Italian, and its heart is in Italy.

From the Agnelli family's perspective, what they are protecting is not just a club, but also 102 years of family glory and a symbol of Italy's industrial era.

This is no longer a game of business logic; it's a clash of two beliefs.

In John Elkann's eyes, the bronze door must remain closed, because outside stands opportunists trying to whitewash their identities; but in Paolo's eyes, the door should be open, because outside stands the Italian-blooded boy who can save the team.

However, the times were not on the side of the old aristocracy.

In the same week that Exor rejected Tether, Premier League champions Manchester City announced the renewal of their contract with cryptocurrency exchange OKX, with the sponsorship on their jerseys valued at over 100 million euros. European giants such as Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona, and AC Milan have already established deep partnerships with cryptocurrency companies. In Asia, South Korea's K-League and Japan's J-League have also begun accepting cryptocurrency sponsorships.

The question of new money entering traditional industries controlled by old money is no longer one of "whether" or "how," but rather "how." Football is just one battleground; in the art auction world, Sotheby's and Christie's have begun accepting cryptocurrency payments; in real estate, luxury home transactions in cities like Dubai and Miami can already be completed using Bitcoin. Similar conflicts are unfolding around the world.

Paolo's charge, regardless of success or failure, is testing the boundaries of this era: when a generation creates enormous wealth in new ways, are they qualified to sit at the old world's table controlled by old money?

The story ends with a freeze-frame on an olive grove in the suburbs.

Thirty-two years ago, a dark-haired boy sat there, watching the black-and-white striped figure on the television screen, cheering amidst the sounds of his grandparents working. He could never have imagined that one day he would stand outside that door, waiting for an answer.

The tightly closed bronze gate remained cold and imposing. Behind it lay a century of glory for the Agnelli family, and the last glimmer of the old industrial era.

It's not open to new money yet, but this time, the one knocking won't back down. Because he knows it's only a matter of time before he pushes the door open.

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