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Sir Jim Ratcliffe
studied chemical engineering and founded the chemical
company Ineos
in 1998 .
He is now the richest man in Britain.
Photo: Steven Paston / dpa
The British self-made billionaire
Jim Ratcliffe
(69) wants to join the troubled Premier League club Manchester United.
"If the club is up for sale, Jim would definitely be a potential buyer," a spokesman for Ratcliffe-led chemicals group Ineos told The Times on Wednesday.
Ineos was responding to a Bloomberg report that United's owning Glazer family wanted to sell a small stake in the club.
According to the Times, however, Ratcliffe would only want to invest in United if he could take full control of football superstar
Cristiano Ronaldo
's (37) club in the long term.
After two defeats at the start of the season, United are currently at the bottom of the table.
Due to failed squad planning in recent years, the Glazer family has recently come under criticism from some fans.
Ratcliffe is a United fan and had hinted a few months ago that he was interested in taking over a Premier League club.
The billionaire already owns a cycling team (Team Ineos) and two football clubs.
In 2017 he bought the Swiss second division club FC Lausanne-Sport.
Ineos moved its headquarters to Switzerland in 2008 to save on taxes.
Two years later, Ratcliffe took over the French first division club OGC Nice.
Ratcliffe is a part-time patriot
Forbes magazine estimates Ratcliffe's net worth at $16.3 billion.
He is the richest Briton and known as an adventurer.
According to Forbes, he has already visited the North and South Poles and toured South Africa on a motorcycle for months in 2015.
At the same time, he repeatedly caused a public stir.
He campaigned for Brexit, but moved to Monaco in 2019 to pay less tax in the UK.
After the British majority voted to leave the EU, Ratcliffe promised to revive the British cult SUV Defender.
He proudly announced that he wanted to set up Defender production on the island and invoked British ideals such as courtesy and charm.
He later changed his mind.
Production started in Hambach, France.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk tweeted on Wednesday night that he wanted to buy Manchester United.
However, he later made it clear that he was only joking.
In May, Ratcliffe tried to buy London club Chelsea but failed.
The traditional club went to the US billionaire
Todd Boehly
(48) and the investment company Clearlake Capital.
The buyers paid $3.2 billion.
Previously, Chelsea was owned by Russian oligarch
Roman Abramovich
, 55, who is sanctioned by the British government for supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
fw/dpa-AFX, Reuters