LIV Golf lays off majority of employees amid questions about future
Icon Sportswire
LIV Golf, facing uncertainty about its future following Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund pulling its financial backing of the circuit, informed the majority of its staff on Wednesday that their jobs have been terminated.
The move is not a surprise. In July, leaders informed employees there would be layoffs in the coming months. LIV also filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice, which signaled a workforce reduction was possible. The law generally requires businesses with more than 100 employees to provide 60 days of advance notice of potential mass layoffs or plant closings. The United Kingdom has similar layoff notification requirements.
The layoffs came just days after LIV ended its 2026 season in Indianapolis, its tournament lineup coming to a close a week earlier than planned after canceling its previously scheduled finale in Michigan. It is unclear the specific number of employees impacted or in what areas of the operations they work, but LIV has more than 300 employees on staff.
In a statement to Golf Digest, a LIV spokesperson said, “The funding commitment announced by PIF earlier this year will reach its conclusion. As a result, we are scaling back operations as we transition to the next chapter of LIV Golf and work toward making LIV 2.0 a reality. This week, we informed many of our colleagues that their employment under LIV 1.0 will end in the first week of September. We are grateful to our employees for their hard work and dedication in building LIV Golf, and we remain committed to supporting those affected through this transition."
Earlier this month LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil announced LIV had secured a "lead investor" to keep the league going into the future after the PIF annoucned it would no longer bankroll the league after pumping in at least $6 billion into the enterprise. That investor is believed to be BC Partners, a private equity firm based in London that has ties to GSE Worldwide—the agency that represents a sizable portion of LIV’s roster. There are questions about whether the backing is actually structured as a loan, whether it's dependent on other investors joining and whether it's contingent on a certain number of players remaining with the league.
LIV has already signaled it may file for bankruptcy, a number of LIV contractors have complained they haven’t been paid for services, and LIV is facing a lawsuit from the Premier Golf League where the PGL alleges LIV of breach of confidence and unlawful means conspiracy. Golf Digest reported earlier this year that a number of agents for LIV players have reached out to the PGA Tour and DP World Tour regarding avenues to return, and if LIV files for bankruptcy those still under contract will be freed from existing deals.