Sir Jim Ratcliffe could yet put an end to Manchester United 's ownership hell after reports once again linked him to the Old Trafford hotseat following a save from the Glazers.
The American family have been in some capacity of power at Old Trafford for almost two decades, though the second half of said decade has not been remotely successful by United's standards. No top-flight title for 10 years has marked the club's biggest barren spell by some way in the Premier League era, and only three major trophies have been won since Sir Alex Ferguson left the club.
Nonetheless, it appears that fans' non-stop, consistent protests against the Glazer family have worked. Englishman Ratcliffe is being linked with the potential vacancy after a club statement announced that after 17-years as majority shareholders, other interested parties can now come to the fore - with Ratcliffe leading the race. But just who is he, and how much is he worth? We take a look for you here.
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Who is Sir Jim Ratcliffe?
Ratcliffe was born in Failsworth, Greater Manchester in 1952; born a boyhood Manchester United fan.
He studied at the University of Birmingham and the London School of Business before launching Inspec, which later became Ineos, which he still owns to this day.
What does Sir Jim Ratcliffe own?
Ineos, which bought out Inspec and thus allowed him to lease a former BP Chemicals site in Belgium.
Ratcliffe began to buy unwanted operations from the rest of Britain’s chemical companies including BP. This game Ineos bases in Scotland, Italy, Germany, France, Belgium and Canada - dominating the west Europe scene.
Moving to the UK in 2015, the company made £550million in a year, and in 2019 more investments were made in the £1b area.
He also owns FC Lausanne in the Swiss Super League, The Team Sky cycling franchise (which is now named Team Ineos), OGC Nice in the French League and becoming a principal partner of Mercedes.
How much is Sir Jim Ratcliffe worth?
According to the Sunday Times Rich List in 2018, he became the richest man in the UK with a total worth of £21bn.
That figure has likely increased due to inflation, the success of both cycling and motorsport teams alongside having a tangible pair of assets in Nice and Lausanne.
In April 2020, Bloomberg had his net worth down at £26m, putting him second in the UK.
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