Who is John Textor? Meet the American businessman who could save Sheffield Wednesday

Add as preferred source on Google

John Textor is being tipped to take Sheffield Wednesday off Dejphon Chanisiri’s hands.

Chansiri’s popularity rating goes down with every passing day as the Wednesday chairman’s gross mismanagement of the club has left the Owls in crisis.

Brazilian media reported that Textor ‘has a plan’ to buy Wednesday and take full control at Hillsborough.

Textor’s interest in Wednesday is legitimate and right now, he seems like the frontrunner to end Chansiri’s tenure in Yorkshire.

But who is the American businessman that has also had links to Crystal Palace, Lyon and Botafogo? EFL Analysis has everything you need to know.

• READ MORE: Barry Bannan reveals ‘loads of things’ unpaid Sheffield Wednesday players have had to deal with in pre-season

Who is John Textor?

John Textor is an American businessman, born on September 30, 1965, in Kirksville, Missouri, who is best known for his role in football club ownership.

Textor founded Eagle Football Club Holdings and is the majority owner of Botafogo in Brazil, Lyon in France and RWDM Brussels in Belgium.

He also had a spell as a minority owner at Crystal Palace but relinquished his shares in June 2025.

Away from football, the 59-year-old was formerly the executive chairman of the streaming television service, Fubo TV.

How did John Textor make his money?

Textor is a billionaire who made his money from various business ventures in digital media and entertainment industries, including visual work and streaming services.

He has worked with the likes of Digital Domain, fuboTV, and Pulse Evolution.

John Textor net worth

According to Forbes, Textor has a net worth of $3.4 billion, however, that is nothing compared to Chansiri who has a reported net worth of $585 billion.

Does John Textor own Lyon?

Yes, John Textor is the majority owner of Ligue 1 side Lyon as part of his Eagle Football Holdings Group.

Is John Textor selling Crystal Palace?

Textor was only a minority owner of Palace but in June 2025, agreed to sell his 43 per cent stake to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson in a deal worth £190m.

The American’s previous relationship with the club is one of the reasons why Palace were demoted to the Conference League, pending appeal, after UEFA deemed the FA Cup winners to be in breach of multi-club ownership rules.

Will John Textor buy Sheffield Wednesday?

There are no guarantees that Textor will buy Sheffield Wednesday.

 Chansiri is still proving difficult to negotiate with the Thai owner not giving up control of the club easily.

Textor wants to add Wednesday to his portfolio and while talks rumble on in the background, it remains to be seen if anything will actually progress.