Billionaire Jorge Mas persuaded the world’s biggest soccer star to join a bottom-of-the-barrel team that’s languishing in last place in its league.
Now he needs to make it pay off.
With Lionel Messi and Apple on his side, the 60-year-old construction executive is seeking to upend the business of U.S. soccer and make it a lot more profitable. The lynchpin of his strategy was signing Messi to a contract that jettisoned a traditional cash-for-services agreement in favor of revenue sharing accords and an equity stake in the team — a deal-making strategy closer to Wall Street’s playbook.