British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe already has interests in football, Formula One and cycling. He now owns a slice of his boyhood club, Manchester United.
It was announced on Sunday that the founder of chemicals giant INEOS had bought a 25 percent stake in the Premier League giants after a protracted saga.
United fan Ratcliffe, who made an unsuccessful bid to buy Chelsea last year, has long been linked with the Old Trafford club.
The 71-year-old already has an impressive sporting portfolio that includes French club Nice and Swiss team FC Lausanne-Sport.
In 2019, cycling powerhouse Team Sky became Team INEOS and the following year INEOS bought a one-third stake in the Mercedes Formula One team.
Ratcliffe and INEOS confirmed their bid for majority ownership of Manchester United in February and went head to head with Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani, who subsequently pulled out of the race.
The group vowed to make the Old Trafford side the “number one club in the world again” after a decade of under-achievement.
They also pledged to be “the long-term custodians of Manchester United on behalf of the fans and the wider community”.
Ratcliffe has not got quite what he wanted, with the Glazers still the majority shareholders at Old Trafford.
The Americans, who completed a leveraged takeover in 2005, saddling the club with huge debts, have proved deeply unpopular with supporters.
Ratcliffe, nevertheless, will feel he can play a part in restoring United to the pinnacle of English and European football after a chastening decline since Alex Ferguson won the last of the club’s 20 Premier League titles in 2013.
He is one of Britain’s wealthiest people — Forbes estimates his net worth at $23 billion (£18.1 billion).
But the glitzy world of international sport is a long way from Ratcliffe’s humble beginnings, growing up in social housing near Manchester in northwest England.
Ratcliffe founded INEOS in 1998 and the company went on to become an industrial juggernaut in Britain.
It operates 194 sites across 29 countries, generates $65 billion annually and employs more than 26,000 people.
Ratcliffe has continued to diversify INEOS, entering the automotive sector to build the INEOS Grenadier, intended to be a successor to the Land Rover Defender.
What Does Jim Ratcliffe Own?
Football
INEOS took control of French club Nice in 2019 in a reported 100 million euro ($110 million) deal.
Stated ambitions from Ratcliffe’s brother Bob, who heads INEOS’s football operations, to reach the Champions League within “three to five” years have not been realised yet, though they are second in Ligue 1 in the current campaign.
Despite the backing of one of Britain’s richest men, INEOS’s football projects have focused on developing young talent rather than splashing out on big transfer fees.
The company’s first foray into football was a takeover of Swiss side FC Lausanne-Sport, in 2017.
It has been a bumpy ride, with two relegations and two promotions back to the top tier.
“We made some mistakes at Lausanne, but we are fast learners,” said Jim Ratcliffe when taking charge at Nice.
However, fiscal responsibility has been central to INEOS’s plans for Lausanne.
“Clubs need to be successful off the pitch, as well as on it,” said Ratcliffe.
Cycling
INEOS invested in cycling in 2019 by taking over the British outfit Team Sky, which had dominated cycling.
Sky won the Tour de France six times between 2012 and 2018, with Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas in the saddle and Dave Brailsford pulling the strings.
Brailsford has since become INEOS’ director of sport, overseeing multiple projects.
Success at the Tour de France continued for the first year of Team INEOS as Colombian Egal Bernal claimed the yellow jersey in 2019.
However, despite boasting the biggest budget in cycling at around 50 million euros, INEOS have since been eclipsed by UAE Team Emirates and Jumbo-Visma.
Formula One
INEOS took a one-third stake in Formula One team Mercedes in 2020.
However, after seven consecutive drivers’ world championships with Lewis Hamilton or Nico Rosberg at the wheel, Mercedes have been usurped by Red Bull and Max Verstappen.
Running
INEOS backed Eliud Kipchoge’s successful effort to become the first man to run a marathon in under two hours in Vienna in 2019.
Kipchoge was aided by a group of pacemakers, working in shifts, to form a V-shaped aerodynamic drag position using expertise that INEOS gained from cycling’s peloton.
However, the feat was not recognised by athletics chiefs as a world record due to the conditions used to aid the Kenyan.
Sailing
INEOS Britannia, led by four-time Olympic champion Ben Ainslie, will challenge for the 2024 America’s Cup in Barcelona after falling short in their aim of becoming the first-ever British winners in 2021.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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