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

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Following months of speculations, Jim Ratcliffe, a British billionaire and lifelong supporter of Manchester United who owns the business INEOS has formally joined the bidding process to acquire the Premier League team.

The Red Devils have been put on the market by their current owners the Glazers family. There have been rumours about interests from the Middle East and Asia for a potential takeover, however, the British businessman as of now has declared a formal approach.

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

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

Sir Jim Ratcliffe - Manchester United New Owner?

Sir Jim Ratcliffe Net Worth

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

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

Interest in Sports

Ratcliffe is an avid lover of sports and has made a lot of investments in different sporting entities. He has invested a lot of money in the cycling team INEOS Grenadiers as well as both the Swiss Super League team FC Lausanne-Sport and the Ligue 1 team Nice, over which he took ownership in 2019.

Manchester United Fan

Born in Failsworth in 1952, Ratcliffe spent the first 10 years of his life in the Greater Manchester town and always reiterated his passion for United earlier. A few years ago the Ineos CEO even criticised the Glazers for the bad handling of the Old Trafford squad and suggested if given a chance he will make things change at the Theatre of dreams. Now only time will tell if he succeeds in that approach.