Sir Jim Ratcliffe buying a share of Manchester United has cost the club over $50 million. The British billionaire previously acquired a minority share of around 27% in the club back in February. Despite holding a relatively modest piece of the pie, Ratcliffe paid current Red Devils majority owners about $1.6 billion for the stake.
Most minority owners of soccer teams do not exactly have a ton of say in daily operations. This, however, is not the case with Ratcliffe. United’s majority owners, the Glazer family, have seemingly outsourced control of the club to Ratcliffe and his company, INEOS. The virtual changing of the guard has triggered a series of unpopular decisions by Ratcliffe.
While he remains one of the richest figures in the United Kingdom, Ratcliffe has opted for multiple cost-cutting measures since arriving at the club. Nevertheless, the moves directly affect many of the average workers within the team. For instance, the billionaire told the club’s staff back in May that they could no longer work from home. Weeks later, Ratcliffe then essentially fired 250 total employees at the team’s facilities.
United posted $91.6 million in losses during recent financial period under Ratcliffe
The harsh moves, however, came as United recorded major losses during the third quarter of the financial year. According to The Guardian, the English club posted $91.6 in losses in this timeframe. A significant chunk of these losses came directly from Ratcliffe buying into United.
The British news source reports that the billionaire’s purchase of the minority stake cost the club around $51 million. Much of this surprising setback supposedly came from legal and consultancy fees.
Despite the news, United sees the hit as a short-term issue. Ratcliffe previously pledged around $300 million in new investments looking ahead. $200 million of this sum has already been used to renovate the club’s training center. The overhaul, however, also forced the…
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Author : Chris Moore
Publish date : 2024-07-10 20:18:18
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