Elon Musk is eccentric and unpredictable. The billionaire not only has financial power, but also over 100 million followers on Twitter. He tells them that he wants to buy Manchester United. He causes a lot of excitement, as the current owners are criticized.
Elon Musk has once again caused a stir. The tech billionaire tweeted that he wants to buy English club Manchester United. Hours later he explained what was really behind it. It was just a joke. "I'm also buying Manchester United. You're welcome," wrote the 51-year-old Tesla owner on the platform, which he once wanted to buy and now no longer.
It was initially more than unclear whether he really wanted to take over the traditional club that was in an eternal crisis, just entertain his more than 100 million followers or influence the course of the listed club. He later wrote that it was a joke. "I'm not buying a sports club," he wrote. The joke, however, was that the reactions in the social network were inevitable and four hours after the "announcement" were already approaching 500,000.
After the 4-0 loss at Brentford, Manchester United are already knee-deep in chaos after two matchdays of the new season. The Red Devils and their new coach Erik ten Hag are currently in last place in the English Premier League. Aging superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has been causing a stir for weeks. He wants to leave the club but no one has any use for the highly paid Portuguese, who is a shell of bygone days on the pitch.
The purchase of Manchester United, one of the largest clubs in the world, would have cost Musk well over two billion euros according to the current stock market valuation. The current owners, the Glazer family, took over the club in 2005 for £790m. The family allocated around 520 million of this to the club. The previously debt-free company was suddenly heavily indebted after the so-called leveraged buyout.
Since then, Manchester United has been trying to pay off the debts to the owners. Since 2005, the club has paid almost 900 million euros in interest to the family. The Glazers currently receive around 26 million euros a year from the club through dividend payments. Since 2016, the football finance blog Swiss Ramble explained these days, they have received almost 200 million euros. Meanwhile, not only is the stadium, the legendary Old Trafford, losing its luster, but is now in urgent need of renovation. Although the Red Devils are still a marketing force at the moment, years of sporting decline have made the club vulnerable there too.
There has long been an anti-glazer movement among fans of the club. It gained new momentum last year after the failure of the Super League plans. A takeover by Musk would very likely have brought the club from bad to worse anyway. He is considered eccentric and unpredictable and is currently in a legal battle with Twitter because he wants to call off the approximately $ 44 billion takeover of the short message service. Manchester United have not yet commented on the latest developments. It went faster this time.
