Arik Shtilman, the Rapyd co-founder and chief executive who already sponsors Maccabi Tel Aviv's basketball team, has gone from backer to would-be buyer. ONE reports he has submitted a non-binding offer worth roughly $100 million to purchase the Recanati family's entire 58% controlling stake in the club.
According to ONE, Shtilman's letter to Udi and Shai Recanati frames the move as loyalty rather than a hostile approach. He describes himself as committed to the club's future after years as a fan and its central sponsor, and pledges to invest personal time, resources and "significant capital" in Maccabi's long-term success.
The bid lands only weeks after the Recanati family exercised its right of first refusal to buy out the Federman family's Fedanco Sport holding for around $50 million, ending the Federmans' long era at the club and lifting the Recanatis' stake to 58%.
That sale effectively unwound an agreement Shtilman had reached in May to buy half of Fedanco Sport himself and join Maccabi's board, part of a wider plan to inject $30 million into the club alongside additional investors. The Recanatis' decision to activate their first-refusal rights shut that route down entirely.
Shtilman is no stranger to Maccabi's finances. Rapyd has been the club's shirt and naming sponsor since 2024, with the team playing domestically and in the EuroLeague as Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv.
ONE reports the new offer covers the Recanati family's full 58% holding, or alternatively a controlling core of it, and proposes a 30-day due-diligence window with completion targeted within 90 days — a tight timeline that signals how quickly Shtilman wants to move.
The picture is complicated by a parallel process ONE says is already under way: the Recanati family is reportedly in separate talks to sell around half of its stake to American investor Jason Levin for roughly $50 million, a deal that would also see Levin take Maccabi's seat on the EuroLeague's board of shareholders in place of Danny Federman.
ONE further reports that Guy Harel, the former Maccabi Jerusalem chief executive who also acts as an agent for Maccabi Tel Aviv head coach Oded Katz, helped facilitate contact between the Recanatis and Levin.
Neither the Recanati family nor Shtilman has commented publicly on the $100 million offer, and it is unclear whether the family — having just taken outright control after years as one of the club's three traditional power centres — has any appetite to sell out so soon.
Maccabi Tel Aviv is a six-time EuroLeague champion and the dominant force in Israeli basketball, so any change of control would rank among the largest ownership transactions in the country's sporting history — and would turn a sponsor into an owner almost overnight.
