Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday morning made another headline grabbing statement, stating on Twitter that he is going to buy Manchester United Football Club. The world's richest man, who is worth over $270 billion, made the startling claim in a follow-up tweet to one of his earlier statements on the social media platform.
"To be clear, I support the left half of the Republican Party and the right half of the Democratic Party!" Musk wrote on Twitter on Wednesday morning. After an hour, he expressed the intention to but the footballing giant from the English Premier League in the UK.
"Also, I’m buying Manchester United ur welcome," he followed it up.
Within a couple of hours, the tweet was liked by over 200,000 users, retweeted 65,000 times The statement is sure to send shockwaves through not just the business community but also the sporting world. Manchester United, who are the most decorated team in England, are arguably going through the biggest crisis in over a century of their footballing history. The club is currently languishing at the bottom of the English Premier League table after losing the first two matches against underdog opponents in the most dismal start to their season. Adding to their worrisome on-field performance have been a disappointing transfer season and uncertainty around the future of one of world's most famous footballers and their talisman Cristiano Ronaldo.
Fans of the club and peopleat large have been wondering if Musk is actually fooling around or seriously intends to and can buy Manchester United. Mancheter United had a valuation of around $4.6 billion as of May, as per Forbes. On Tuesday's stock market close, the football club's market capitalisation stood at more than $2 billion as per Reusters.
With his massive net worth of $270 billion, Elon Musk is certainly capable of buying one of the biggest clubs in football. The deal valuation would be significantly less than the $44 billion Twitter deal, which currently hangs in the balance. Manchester United is currently owned by the Glazer family of the US. The football club was acquired by the Glazers back in 2005 in a $790 million takeover.
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