Markus Liebherr

In 2017, Markus Liebherr's daughter Katharina Liebherr sold an 80 stake in the club for GBP210 million to Chinese Lander Sports Investment company owned by the Gao family.

Since then Southampton has had a remarkable climb, reaching the highest division in 2012 and now having solidified themselves in that division.

Liebherr died of a heart attack, on 10 August 2010. He reached the age of 62 years.

In the first year of Liebherr's ownership, Southampton F.C. overcame a ten-point deduction for going into administration to mount a late challenge for the play-offs, missing out by seven points. On 28 March 2010, Southampton won the Football League Trophy at Wembley Stadium.

His holding company, DMWSL 613 Limited, bought English Football League side Southampton in July 2009, which took the club out of administration.

At Agritechnica 2009, the world's largest trade fair for agricultural machinery, Mali presented its trac-140 system carrier for municipal applications. Also on display from Kirowez importer L&K (Land- und Kraftfahrzeugtechnik Stadtilm) was a 400-hp articulated tractor equipped with Mali's WSG-250 continuously variable transmission. MALI Spezialfahrzeuge GmbH in Schönebeck filed for insolvency in 2012.

On 8 July 2009, 98 days after Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC, Southampton's former holding company, had been placed in administration under Begbies Traynor, Liebherr's bid to buy the club was successfully completed. The total amount he had paid has not been disclosed but it is believed to be around £13–15 million.

After the Bavarian tractor manufacturer Anton Schlüter München ceased production in the early 1990s, Mali developed an unofficial successor. Liebherr had previously equipped some Schlüter tractors with Liebherr engines. Only a few prototypes of the two models of the Mali trac with 250 and 300 hp were built, although the concept with suspended front axle, 50 km/h top speed, large cab with rotating operator's platform and removable power lift and hydraulic block was groundbreaking. However, the company was not satisfied with the tried-and-tested transmissions, so the project was initially put on hold.

He was given equal shares in the German holding company in the 1980s when the business moved its management headquarters to Switzerland. Also his siblings Hubert, Willi and Isolde held shares of the company. He later handed most of his shares back to his family, and ran his own group of companies, the Mali Group, from 1994 until his death. He founded the company in Heinrichsburg near Eberhardzell in the district of Biberach in Upper Swabia.

Markus Liebherr (30 March 1948 – 10 August 2010) was a German-born Swiss businessman and a member of one of Europe's top family business dynasties. He was a Swiss entrepreneur and owner of MALI International AG, which he founded in 1994.