LIV Golf Signals Looming Layoffs After PIF Funding Cuts
· Yahoo Sports
LIV Golf told employees in the U.S and U.K. Wednesday morning that it is likely facing layoffs, according to someone familiar with the details who was not authorized to speak publicly.
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The upstart tour is filing a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice—a legal requirement and not a definitive workforce reduction; the U.K. also has layoff notification requirements. The WARN Act requires most businesses with more than 100 employees to provide 60 days’ advance notice of potential mass layoffs or plant closings.
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This marks the latest challenge for the upstart golf tour since Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) pulled back on its financial support.
“There are no changes to LIV Golf’s current workforce, operations, or schedule at this time,” a spokesperson for LIV Golf said in a statement. “As our process to identify strategic investors moves forward in a positive direction, and as part of responsible planning for a range of possible outcomes, we have notified employees in the United States and United Kingdom of potential future actions related to the League’s corporate workforce. This step is being taken in accordance with legal obligations in each jurisdiction. We deeply appreciate our employees’ continued dedication as we work toward a strong and sustainable future for the League.”
The workforce reduction is part of a rightsizing of the business, as LIV seeks a long-term investment partner. It has been in the market seeking an investment between $250 million and $350 million to continue operations beyond 2026, according to a pitch deck viewed by Sportico.
Under its new business plan, which aims to operate a 10-event annual schedule, the tour anticipates reaching profitability after three years. It highlights that LIV Golf doubled its revenue from 2024 to 2025, and the tour is on pace to add another $100 million to that mark this year. In April, LIV Golf retained investment bank Ducera Partners to run the process.
LIV CEO Scott O’Neil, who took over in January 2025, appeared last month on Sportico Sports Business Presented by Endava. O’Neil said he is up to manage the challenge that LIV faces, but that the “piano tied to [his] chest” feels a bit bigger this time compared to other career challenges he’s faced. He pitched future LIV investors on the global nature of the sport and league’s 13 teams possessing large “upside franchise values”
LIV Golf launched in 2022 to shake up the legacy golf world. The Tour included a team format, music on the courses, players in shorts, $25 million per tournament purses, 54-hole events and a global schedule. In its quest to establish a rival to the PGA Tour, LIV wrote big checks to lure some of golf’s top stars to the nascent tour, with guarantees of at least $100 million to Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Smith and Jon Rahm during its first two years.
PIF invested more than $5 billion into LIV but announced in April it would no longer back the league beyond this season. On Tuesday, Rahm, who is playing at the Genesis Scottish Open this week, was asked about potentially investing in LIV. “Something I’ve learned in life, never say never,” Rahm said. “I’m not going to say absolutely no to anything that can happen in the future.” LIV Golf’s most recent event was early June in Spain, with its late June event in New Orleans canceled. It tees off next for an event in England July 23-26.
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