Kyril Louis-Dreyfus has apologised to Sunderland fans 'who felt misled' over the ownership of the club - and admits he 'misjudged the sensitivity' of the issue. Chairman Louis-Dreyfus met representatives of Sunderland's supporters' collective last week to address fans' concerns following the recent revelation that he owns less than half of the shares in the club.
When he bought into the club, it was announced that he had bought a 'controlling interest' and supporters had understood to mean that he therefore owned more than 50 percent of the club. In fact, he is merely the largest single shareholder in the club with a 41 percent stake.
And the three members of the Madrox consortium - Stewart Donald, Charlie Methven, and Juan Sartori - collectively retain the remaining 59 percent. In Louis-Dreyfus' first year at Sunderland neither he nor the club made any attempt to correct the record when he was variously described as the 'new owner' or 'majority shareholder', and instead insisted that the exact breakdown of who owned how many shares was subject to a non-disclosure agreement.
