Tech veteran is said to get 20% of MLS club for $100 million

Meg Whitman, the Silicon Valley veteran and onetime gubernatorial candidate, has found a new calling: pro-soccer owner.

The executive is buying a minority stake in Major League Soccer team FC Cincinnati, part of a push by the first-year team to raise money for facilities and player contracts. Whitman, whose purchase was approved Wednesday, will become the sixth woman on the MLS Board of Governors, one of five to join within the past two years.

The former Hewlett Packard Co. chief and her husband, Griff Harsh, are taking about 20% of the club at a valuation of around $500 million, according to three people familiar with the deal. A team spokeswoman declined to comment on the terms.

“Cincinnati has a special place in my heart,” said Whitman, who started her career at Procter & Gamble Co.’s Cincinnati headquarters and continues to serve on the company’s board. “FC Cincinnati and soccer have both already proven to be cultural forces in the market. Between the crowds at Nippert Stadium and the corporate commitments it has drawn, it’s a team with an exceptionally high ceiling.”

FC Cincinnati began play as a United Soccer League franchise and moved up to MLS before the 2019 season. The team’s majority owner is Carl Lindner III, co-chief executive officer of Cincinnati-based American Financial Group Inc. Other investors include Scott Farmer, CEO of Cintas Corp.; George Joseph of Joseph Auto Group; and Larry Sheakley, founder of Sheakley Group of Cos.

The team has been working with the Raine Group to help bring on capital; O’Melveny & Myers represented Whitman and Harsh.

Whitman, 63, is CEO of the short-form video startup Quibi, which was founded last year. She previously led EBay Inc., and was CEO of HP -- and later, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, when the company split in two. Harsh is the chairman of the neurological surgery department at the University of California, Davis.

Whitman will join Lindner as the team’s second MLS board representative. Other women serving on the 58-person board include Dee Haslam (Columbus Crew SC), and Hall Capital Partners founder Katie Hall (San Jose Earthquakes). The St. Louis expansion franchise, which will begin play in 2022, is majority-owned by women.

Whitman has shown prior interest in MLS clubs. Back in 2017, she was a part of the group looking to bring a club to Sacramento but later left the bid. Whitman is also an investor in the esports franchise Immortals.