Elon Musk, the world's richest person, on Tuesday tweeted that he was buying football club Manchester United Plc (MANU.N), without offering any details.
Musk has a history of being unconventional and making irreverent tweets, and it was not immediately clear whether he planned to pursue a deal to secure Manchester United.
"I'm buying Manchester United ur welcome," Musk said in a tweet. The team is controlled by the American Glazer family. Neither the family nor Musk immediately responded to a request for comment.
Fans of the club and people at large have been wondering if Musk is actually fooling around or seriously intends to and can buy Manchester United. Manchester 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 Reuters. 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 fans have in recent years protested against the Glazers, who bought the club for 790 million pounds ($955.51 million) in 2005, due to the team's struggles on the pitch.
The anti-Glazer movement gained momentum last year after United were involved in a failed attempt to form a breakaway European Super League.
(with inputs from Reuters)
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