Early Tuesday morning (Nigerian time), US billionaire, Elon Musk, in the midst of a political-related discussion on Twitter, ended the thread with a tweet which roused the fervour of Manchester United supporters claiming he was purchasing the English Premiership football club.
Musk tweeted, “Also, I’m buying Manchester United ur welcome”
Also, I’m buying Manchester United ur welcome
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 17, 2022
The tweet suddenly gathered, in a few hours, thousands of comments, likes and retweets as fans argued the pros and cons of the Tesla CEO acquiring the famous football club.
The excitement was however short-lived as the US billionaire refuted such takeover claims hours later with a tweet revealing his earlier tweet was only a joke.
“No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. I’m not buying any sports teams,” he tweeted.
No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. I’m not buying any sports teams.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 17, 2022
“Although, if it were any team, it would be Man U. They were my fav team as a kid,” he added.
Musk’s tweets follow Manchester United’s embarrassing 4-0 defeat in their 2022-2023 season opener against Brentford and the clamour from fans and pundits for a change of ownership.
Elon Musk vs Manchester United
The club is rated the third most valuable football club in the world behind only Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona. In May 2022, Forbes valued Manchester United at $4.6 billion with a revenue of $663 million and an operating income of $128 million.
The world’s richest man surely has the money necessary for the purchase. According to Forbes, the Tesla Founder is the richest person in the world with a stunning net worth of $219 billionaire. Comparing the net worths, the Tesla Founder who admitted that Manchester United was his favourite football club as a kid is more than capable of buying the football club.
Musk has a history of making controversial and sometimes unconventional comments on social media which oftentimes makes it difficult to discern when it’s a joke or not.
- In April this year, Nairametrics reported that Musk tweeted his next acquisition to buy the multinational beverage company, Coca-Cola, as he mentioned that he will “add cocaine back in.”
- To this day, many analysts insist Musk never had good intention to purchase Twitter, hence his decision to terminate the $44 billion acquisition deal on the allegation that Twitter was not forthcoming with information about how many spam and fake accounts were on the website.
What you should know
- The Glazer family is the owner of the Manchester football club. The club was purchased by them in 2005.
- After Manchester United’s awful start to the season, the focus has once again turned to their owners with fans protesting against the ownership and different people have been touted to buy the football club.
- United supporters, who are planning to stage another protest against the Glazers ahead of next Monday night’s clash with Liverpool at Old Trafford, are desperate to see a change in ownership.’
- Their ownership has come under severe scrutiny in recent weeks following a below-par summer transfer window. United are desperate for new signings and has struggled to get players through the door, bringing in just three new faces so far.