Qatari Bank Chairman Submits Bid On Manchester United

Topline

The chairman of Qatari bank QIB submitted a bid to purchase Manchester United, multiple outlets reported Friday—following years of complaints from fans who claim the English Premier League club’s billionaire U.S. owners, the Glazer Family, do not have its best interests at heart.

Shares of Manchester United soared on Friday following rumors the Glazer family is nearing a sale.

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Key Facts

Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani, chairman of the Qatar Islamic Bank and son of Qatar’s former Prime Minister Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al Thani, made the bid for 100% control of the club before Friday’s deadline.

In a statement through his Nine Two Foundation, Al Thani pledged to reinvest profits back into the team, saying his plan is “to return the club to its former glories” and “place the fans at the heart of Manchester United Football Club once more.”

The Premier League club’s shares on the New York Stock Exchange had jumped nearly 10% from $24.27 to $26.84 by the end of the day Thursday, the team’s biggest jump in shares since November, following reports the Glazer family was considering a sale—shares have since leveled of slightly, to $26.33.

Thursday’s climb in stocks comes after multiple outlets reported the Raine Group, a financial firm for the Glazers, had been in conversations with a group of Qatari state investors about a potential sale.

In return for the club, the Glazers are reportedly looking for nearly $6 billion, with a bid expected as soon as Friday.

Only one other potential buyer has gone public with their intentions—billionaire INEOS owner Jim Ratcliffe—though fans have also speculated Twitter, Tesla and SpaceX owner Elon Musk could throw his hat in the ring, after the world’s second-richest person tweeted last year that he would, before backing down and saying it was a joke.

Big Number

$4.6 billion. That’s how much Manchester United is worth, according to Forbes, making it the third most valuable professional soccer team in the world. With the team’s value on the rise, however, the Glazers have been incrementally selling shares of the publicly-traded club. They have also faced scrutiny for maintaining a significant debt, estimated to be roughly $594.5 million last year, sparking an outcry from fans who claim the family has failed to invest in the club while it soaks up the dividends it makes from it.

Tangent

Al Thani’s bid for the club comes three months after it parted ways with superstar forward Cristiano Ronaldo after his high-profile falling out with team management, arguing in an explosive interview they “don’t care about the club.” The club announced in November it had cut ties with the 37-year-old by “mutual consent,” paving the way for Ronaldo—who had rejoined Manchester United in 2021 after playing nine years for Spanish club Real Madrid—to sign a record-breaking contract estimated to be worth roughly $75 million per year with the Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr.

Contra

Despite receiving a constant torrent of heavy criticism from fans in Manchester, the club had performed relatively well during its first few seasons under the Glazer family’s control, winning five league titles since the late Malcolm Glazer gained control of the club in 2005. Its last championship, however, came in the 2012-2013 season, when the club defeated rival Liverpool. Since then, it’s become the city’s second-best team, with Manchester City winning five times in the past eight seasons.

Forbes Valuation

We estimate the Glazer family’s net worth to be roughly $4.7 billion, split among the family after the death of Malcolm Glazer in 2014 at the age of 85. In addition to Manchester United, the family is also in control of more than 6.7 million square feet of shopping center space in the U.S, while Malcolm’s son Joel Glazer owns the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which his father purchased in 1995.