This history appears in Sportico’s Morning Lead email. Click this link to register and receive it delivered directly to your queue. When Jim Ratcliffe, who purchased the storied team last year, gave his first meeting to Manchester United Television, he stated to the audience,” I’m not interested in the financial aspects of this expense at all.” That’s a good thing, because as an expense, it has lost Ratcliffe hundreds of millions of dollars.
United’s stock trades for about half the amount he paid for his interest, which suggests his overly nice bid to acquire almost 30 % of the team’s wearing operations with management of its wearing operations was poor. However, it’s undoubtedly been a successful partnership for the other significant Red Devil co-owners.
In later 2022, the Glazer family, which controls the club through supervoting stock, said it wished to discover” proper solutions” for Manchester United, Wall Street-speak for considering a purchase. Ratcliffe and at least six different big bidders, including Qatari Sheik Jassim bin Hamad al Thani, who had become the final standing bidder by the end of the 2023 academic year, sparked a frenzy of attention. For unspecified causes, the Glazers and Ratcliffe decided to sell Ratcliffe a majority ownership interest in United in exchange for the right to manage the team’s day-to-day procedures.

Ratcliffe paid greatly for the opportunity. In an early 2024 sweet to buy stock and a later time follow-on giving, Ratcliffe paid$ 1.6 billion to acquire 49.88 million stocks of United, representing a wisp under 29 % of the voting power. He purchased those shares for$ 33 each, which is an unprecedented rate for the property that has been traded on the New York Stock Exchange since 2012 and far above what Man United was buying.
Those shares are now worth$ 812 million —a gut-wrenching 48 % difference from what he paid. What kind of damage is that? Newcastle United, which is already nine areas higher in the Premier League board, could benefit from the$ 734 million Ratcliffe has lost on Guy United in a year. Newcastle is worthwhile$ 700 million, according to Sportico prices. Just 31 various soccer organizations around the world are worth more than Ratcliffe’s losses to Man United.
It’s just a paper lost for Ratcliffe, who is worthwhile$ 15.5 billion from his rights of professional company Ineos Group, according to Forbes. ( Manchester United and Ineos Group’s requests for comment weren’t immediately responded to. )
However, the purchase has led to actual profits for other club stakeholders. One example is Lindsell Train, a U. K. account manager that once was the second-largest user of the team after the Glazers. In fact, without Ratcliffe, Lindsell Train may be under on its much expense in the group.

In the summer of 2017, Lindsell Train began to purchase Man United stock, rising to 7.5 million shares when it first had to reveal its assets to the Securities & Exchange Commission. The account kept buying. By the end of 2020, the finance manager had 11.57 million shares, or 20 % of the collateral. That was the top of Lindsell Train’s equity in the group, a place it spent$ 211 million to earn, according to Sportico estimations. Because Lindsell Train is a passive investor, it releases a screenshot of its share ownership at least every year, but it doesn’t specify the share price, so the amount paid is based on promote differences and regular trading costs between reviews.
Buyers of Lindsell Train have pulled their income from the business as frequently happens with cash. Since 2021, the percentage of people taking money out of goods has decreased by about 45 %. Lindsell Train has sold its Manchester United play over the past year, perhaps as a result of customer redemptions, but even Ratcliffe gave them the cost they don’t refuse.
The scheduling of the statements make it clear the bank took advantage of Ratcliffe’s above-market offer to buy stock next February. The British businessman sold almost 3.1 million shares for$ 33.50 at that time. More sales in the open marketplace followed, and by the end of 2024 the bank held 5.78 million shares in United, about 11 % capital. In recent years Lindsell Train has recouped through sales$ 150 million of its$ 211 million investment, while the shares it still owns are worth$ 94 million. The fund now has a$ 33 million profit from its eight years of ownership of English football clubs. But they wouldn’t have that without Ratcliffe: The excessive price he paid them over the publicly traded price is$ 55 million.
The biggest recipients of Ratcliffe’s budget? The Glazer community. Its possession of the team was now likely to be profitable for the family. Malcolm, the now-deceased patriarch, purchased United for$ 1.4 billion in a leveraged buyout, which means he might not have invested all the money himself. Before considering a purchase three years ago, his family now had nearly all of that collected. The Glazers had already received a product from the group since 2005 and sold$ 705 million shares by the early 2023 period, and had already earned$ 573 million in earnings. Ratcliffe securely placed them in the background. Ratcliffe paid the household$ 1.18 billion last year, roughly twice the amount of the team’s popular property, meaning that more than two-thirds of his promote purchases went to capital the Glazers owned.

Still, it’s possible there may be a method to Ratcliffe’s madness. If the super voting Class B shares that the Glazer family controls are ever converted into common shares, which happens when the shares are sold outside the family, his 28.94 % ownership of the club actually amounts to a majority 56 % of the equity. Ratcliffe could theoretically take control of a club worth$ 6.2 billion for a fraction of the cost if that were to occur.
That’s highly unlikely, however. For one, the numerous Glazer shareholders would need to be selling without working together to effect a conversion of the voting stock. More likely: The family can still elect to sell their controlling share to Ratcliffe—or to another billionaire buyer. Ratcliffe has the right to refuse a Glazer sale, according to reports, while the family has the option to sell him for money after a while.