Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced via Twitter on Tuesday that he’s buying Manchester United, without providing further details.
“Also, I’m buying Manchester United [you’re] welcome,” the billionaire wrote on Twitter.
Characteristic of Musk’s non-linear logic in Twitter posts, his statement was a reply to an earlier tweet about his political views, in which he said he supports “the left half of the Republican Party and the right half of the Democratic Party.”
Manchester United is an English soccer team currently owned by the Glazer family. It is one of the world’s best-supported football clubs. They have been champions of England a record 20 times and have won the European Cup, the most prestigious club competition in the global game, three times.
Forbes ranks the soccer team as third in the world in valuation ($4.6 billion), behind Barcelona and Real Madrid. The team generates annual revenue of $663 million, according to Forbes. The football club had a market capitalization of $2.08 billion, as of Tuesday’s stock market close.
British publication The Daily Mirror reported in 2021 that the Glazers were prepared to sell the club but only if they were offered in excess of 4 billion pounds ($4.84 billion).
Anti-Glazer Protests
Manchester United fans have in recent years protested against the Glazers, who bought the club for 790 million pounds ($955.51 million) in 2005, due to the team’s struggles on the pitch.
The anti-Glazer movement gained momentum last year after the club was involved in a failed attempt to form a breakaway European Super League.
Twitter has sued Musk in an attempt to force through the purchase deal, whereas Musk is trying to walk away, citing Twitter’s lack of commitment to transparency about the number of bot accounts on the social media platform.
Source: The Epoch Times
