Uno more buzz? Billionaire Elon Musk, boss of Tesla and SpaceX, said in a tweet on Tuesday August 16 that he wanted to buy the English football club Manchester United. In a sibylline message, the wealthy entrepreneur, accustomed to unpredictable and provocative statements on the social network, said: “And I buy Manchester United, nothing. “Before backtracking. ” No it’s a joke […]. I haven’t planned to buy any sports club”, ended up correcting the South African entrepreneur, after his initial tweet aroused in a few hours nearly 500,000 “likes” on the social network.
Questioned by Agence France-Presse, neither Tesla nor the management of the club, controlled by the Glazer family, responded immediately. The English club, listed on the New York Stock Exchange for ten years, has a market capitalization of 2.08 billion dollars. The action which had closed stable Tuesday at 12.78 dollars (+ 0.08%) lost 2.11% in electronic trading after the close. Although no shareholder holds a majority stake, Manchester United is controlled by the six children of American businessman Malcolm Glazer, who took over the company in 2005 before passing away in 2014.
Also, I’m buying Manchester United ur welcome
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 17, 2022
Manchester in turmoil… just like Musk
The club’s management faced vehement protests from fans in April last year when they wanted to take part in a breakaway European Super League plan, which was eventually scrapped. The Red Devils wanted, with five other English clubs, three Spanish and three Italian, to create a rival European competition of the Champions League, an initiative which had provoked strong political and sporting protests, but also strong reactions from the supporters of the clubs concerned.
Severely corrected last Saturday in Brentford (4-0), Manchester United is currently in an unworthy last place in the English Championship after two defeats in two games, far behind a successful leading duo, made up of Arsenal and Manchester City, convincing winners.
As for Elon Musk, he recently sold nearly $7 billion worth of shares in his car group Tesla, while he is in the midst of a legal battle over his failed takeover project of the social network Twitter.
