Elon Musk to buy Man Utd: The truth behind the rumour
FT Desk
- 17 Aug 2022 07:38 BST
- 3 min read
The world's richest man Elon Musk has teased buying Manchester United on Twitter. Is there a chance of it happening?
With an estimated worth of $242 billion/€234b, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO submitted a bid to buy Twitter for $41b/€40b in April before reneging on the deal.
United are owned by the Glazer family, meanwhile, who bought the club for $955.5 million/€940m in June 2005. Now one of the most financially leveraged clubs in the world, the flow of trophies has also dried up since Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement.
Red Devils fans are desperate for new ownership, and Musk sent Twitter into a frenzy when he teased buying the club on Wednesday morning - or Tuesday night in the U.S.
'Fav team as a kid'
"Also, I'm buying Manchester United ur welcome," Musk wrote in a post that was liked nearly half a million times in a matter of hours.
When one fan asked: "Are you serious," Musk dialed down expectations.
"No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter," he said. "I'm not buying any sports teams.
"Although, if it were any team, it would be Man U. They were my fav team as a kid."
Although, if it were any team, it would be Man U. They were my fav team as a kid.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 17, 2022
Musk has a history of making irreverent tweets. Two days after his Twitter bid was accepted in April he tweeted: "Next I'm buying Coca-Cola to put the cocaine back in."
United have spent more than €70m on players like Lisandro Martinez and Tyrell Malacia this summer, while Christian Eriksen has been acquired on a free.
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But they most recently pulled out of a deal for Adrien Rabiot due to the players' wage demands, and results on the pitch have been poor.
New manager Erik ten Hag has overseen a 2-1 defeat to Brighton before last Saturday's 4-0 thrashing by Brentford.
United are rooted to the foot of the table, and a takeover bid from Musk would be entirely welcome among the support.
