Sir Jim Ratcliffe: What to know about Manchester United’s potential new owner

The Red Devils were brought to market by their current owners the Glazers family. There have been rumors of Middle Eastern and Asian interest in a possible takeover, however, the British businessman has now declared a formal approach.

The British entrepreneur joined the race to sign Chelsea when he was up for sale. However, could not match the amount. Now he has shown interest in getting the most stake in the Old Trafford squad.

With an estimated net worth of £23.4billion, Jim Ratcliffe is among the richest people in Britain. But what do we really know about the 70-year-old businessman?

Sir Jim Ratcliffe – New owner of Manchester United?

Net worth of Sir Jim Ratcliffe

The 70-year-old is the chairman of Ineos with a two-thirds stake, a global maker of petrochemicals. He founded chemicals group INEOS in 1998, which has 194 sites in 29 countries, with estimated sales of around £50billion.

The company has more than 26,000 employees. He is one of Britain’s richest businessmen, according to Forbes, with a net worth of £23.4billion, ranking him the 112th richest person in the world.

Interest in sports

Ratcliffe is a sports enthusiast and has made numerous investments in different sports entities. He has invested a lot of money in cycling team INEOS Grenadiers as well as Swiss Super League side FC Lausanne-Sport and Ligue 1 side Nice, which he took ownership of in 2019.

Manchester United fan

Born in Failsworth in 1952, Ratcliffe spent the first 10 years of his life in the city of Greater Manchester and always reiterated his passion for United earlier. A few years ago the Ineos CEO even slammed the Glazers for the poor management of the Old Trafford squad and suggested that if given the chance he would turn things around at the Theater of Dreams . Now, only time will tell if he succeeds in this approach.