The Glazers used £260m of their own money to buy Manchester United (Photo credit should read OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)
The Glazers are set to pocket around £650million when Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s 25% investment stake in the club is confirmed.
The British billionaire has agreed a deal to purchase one-quarter of the club for around £1.3bn.
However, not all of those shares are own by the Glazer family and Ratcliffe had to devise a deal that would see him buy an equal share of A and B shares to appease minority shareholders.
Nevertheless, the Glazer family stand to pocket around £650m for giving up their shares to Ratcliffe, according to the Telegraph.
That’s an astronomical fee, given Newcastle United were sold for around £305m in 2021.
Incredibly, though the Glazers will retain a controlling share in the club, the £650m they’ll pocket is almost £400m more than they paid for the club in 2005.
Ratcliffe will take a 25% stake (Photo by Valery HACHE / AFP) (Photo by VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images)
The Americans completed a controversial takeover of the club in 2005 for a figure of around £790m.
However, they only put in around £260m of their own money, and loaded the rest of the buyout onto the club to the tune of £530m worth of debt.
The takeover, which would not be allowed under today’s rules, saw United plunged into debt for the first time in 70 years.
While Ratcliffe is expected to take control of football operations, it remains to be seen whether his deal will include the ability to eventually take full control of the football club.
Richard Arnold, the club’s CEO, announced on Wednesday that he will step down before the end of the year.
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