Ken Griffin was in London this week to try and strengthen his consortium’s chance of winning the race to take over Chelsea from Roman Abramovich.
Griffin is one of the money men behind the Ricketts family’s bid for the European champions. The American family, who own the Chicago Cubs baseball team, are in the running to take over the club, alongside bids led by Todd Boehly, Sir Martin Broughton and Stephen Pagliuca, which have been given until April 11 to submit their final detailed plans.
Although he is in the background of the bid, The Telegraph have reported that Griffin would become the majority shareholder if the Ricketts family were successful in their takeover attempt. Abramovich is selling Chelsea via American merchant bank Raine Group after being sanctioned by the UK government for his connections to Vladimir Putin in the wake of Russia ’s invasion of the Ukraine.
Griffin flew to London earlier this week to meet Tom and Laura Ricketts, who are leading the consortium’s bid for Chelsea. Like the other bidders, the Ricketts family have held a meeting with Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck and directors Marina Granovskaia and Eugene Tenebaum this week ahead of Monday’s deadline for final offers to be submitted.
Abramovich is understood to be seeking close to £3billion to sell the club he bought for £140m back in 2003. The Ricketts family are one of America’s richest families, but they have turned to Griffin for further financial support in their bid.
Griffin is worth £21.04bn ($27.5bn), according to Forbes , who rank him as the 53rd richest person in the world. By contrast, Forbes estimates Abramovich’s fortune at £6.35bn ($8.3bn) – a total which makes him the world’s 350th richest person.
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The 53-year-old billionaire has made his money through hedge fund Citadel, which he founded in 1990. The Chicago-based company has around £30bn in assets, according to Forbes, although Griffin’s involvement in the Ricketts’ bid is personal and unrelated to Citadel.
His wealth has skyrocketed in recent years. Forbes estimates that Griffin has increased his net worth from around £12bn to £21bn over the last year alone. The Havard graduate has donated around £1bn to philanthropic causes, including the funding of the State Department's rescue of 800 US citizens from Wuhan after the coronavirus pandemic broke out in early 2020.
Griffin is a Republican and has frequently donated large amounts of money to the American political party and its off-shoots. He has a personal property portfolio worth around £760m, two private jets and an art collection worth an estimated £611m.
The Ricketts’ family bid also includes the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Dan Gilbert, and the group are also reportedly still in talks with other potential new investors. While their financial and sporting credentials appear sound, the Ricketts bid could be undermined by scandal. Chelsea fans have been vocal in their opposition to the bid after a series of emails from family patriarch Joe Ricketts were leaked. In them he described the Muslim community as "my enemy".
