For over two decades now, Billy Beane has been at the helm of the A’s front office, with his “Moneyball” success establishing himself as a figure whose popularity goes beyond baseball circles.

It’s become hard to imagine Beane -- whose official title is executive vice president of baseball operations -- not running the show in Oakland. But that scenario might be slowly turning into a reality.

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, RedBall Acquisition Corp., a business venture that Beane co-chairs, is attempting to merge with Red Sox owner John Henry’s Fenway Sports Group by purchasing a portion of Henry's company for an estimated $8 billion. Since Fenway Sports Group owns the Red Sox, Beane would technically be financially invested in the club, which would present a conflict of interest and likely force him to end his tenure with the A’s.

Neither the A’s nor Red Sox have confirmed or commented on the report.

The Journal’s story goes on to say that if the merger goes through, Beane would not be involved in the operations of the Red Sox. Instead, he would likely turn to other ventures owned by the group, which includes English soccer club Liverpool F.C.

A source indicates to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand that while Beane has been engaged in conversations, no official deal appears to be imminent.

Beane, 58, has been involved with the A’s dating back to 1989, when he played his final MLB season with the club. Soon after retiring, Beane became an understudy to then-A’s general manager Sandy Alderson before finally taking the reins as GM himself in 1997. He rose to national fame following the publication of Michael Lewis’ “Moneyball” in 2003. The book focused on how the A’s, under Beane, had thrived by using player evaluations methods (such as valuing on-base percentage over batting average) considered unconventional at the time. Following the 2002 season, Henry tried to lure Beane from Oakland to take over as GM in Boston. Beane ultimately decided to remain with the A’s and Henry hired Theo Epstein instead.

The A’s have reached the postseason 11 times since Beane became GM, but their Wild Card Series win over the White Sox this year was the first time they had advanced in their previous five trips dating back to a 2006 AL Division Series triumph against the Twins.

Over the years, Beane has developed a passion for soccer, and he holds an ownership stake in Dutch soccer club AZ Alkmaar and is part of a consortium that owns English club Barnsley. During a Zoom call with reporters on Friday following the A’s elimination from the postseason at the hands of the Astros in the ALDS, Beane did not discuss his potential new venture, though he did talk about his role as an advisor with Alkmaar, whose CEO is former Yankees and Angels infielder Robert Eenhoorn, and which has patterned its player evaluation system in a way that has been described as similar to Beane’s “Moneyball” strategy.

“Robert Eenhoorn is my friend there and it has been a lot of fun,” Beane said. “It's flattering. It's really neat. Usually, in normal times, it gives me a nice trip to Amsterdam once a year. And I do enjoy the sport. But it's also fun to see a club like that have success with a similar type of a business plan that all of us have carried out here with the A's.

“They're a great group of guys and I'm tickled that they've had the success and that I can be a part of it.”

Beane, who also owns a minority stake in the A’s, would likely be replaced by current A’s GM David Forst, whose relationship with Beane goes back to 2000 when he was hired by the A’s as a scout before serving under him as assistant GM for 12 years.