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One
of the world's most successful soccer clubs, the "Red Devils"
are languishing at the bottom of England's Premier League and,
having seen eight coaches come and go in less than 10 years,
some fans and investors are wondering whether it's time for its
owners, the American Glazer family, to sell up.
Enter the billionaire CEO of Tesla.
"To be clear, I support the left half of the Republican Party
and the right half of the Democratic Party! Also, I'm buying
Manchester United ur (sic) welcome - Elon Musk," the 51-year-old
tweeted to his 103 million followers.
Some of the club's fans had previously urged Musk on Twitter to
consider buying the club, complaining at what they see as
under-investment by the Glazers. United haven't won the English
league title since the glory days of manager Alex Ferguson,
claiming the last of their record 20 wins in 2013.
Within six hours of his tweet, Musk's message had attracted more
than 500,000 'likes' on the club's main Twitter account - though
some users didn't take it too seriously, comparing his tweet
with his troubled run at buying Twitter.
But then came the clarification.
"No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. I'm not buying any
sports teams," Musk posted, when asked by a user if he was
serious about buying United.
"Although, if it were any team, it would be Man U," he added.
"They were my fav (sic) team as a kid."
The Florida-based Glazer family did not immediately respond to
requests for comment. Manchester United declined to comment.
United fans were not impressed.
"It's just a tweet from somebody who not always thinking twice
before write something (sic)," The Manchester United Fanatics
Club Hungary said.
The Kolkata fans club added: "It again reinstated the fact that
Elon and his tweets are just gimmicks. Although it would have
been great if he really invested 1/10th of what he paid for
Twitter to own this legendary club ... the entire fan base is
sick and tired of the Glazers."
Even so, Musk's musings ignited trading in the company's U.S.
listed shares ahead of the New York market open.
The club's shares briefly jumped as much as 17% in early U.S.
pre-market trade before settling around $13.20, about 3% above
Tuesday's closing price.
IRREVERENT JOKESTER
The tweets are far from the first to land Musk in controversy.
The entrepreneur is currently seeking to exit a $44 billion
agreement to buy Twitter only four months after announcing on
the platform he would buy the social media company, which has
taken him to court.
"I think that Elon Musk must first clear the Twitter headache
before his jokes could be taken seriously again by the market,"
said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.
"For ManU, it would mean unnecessary volatility and stress in
the stock price. Elon Musk, and his expertise doesn’t
necessarily add value to Manchester U, unless he aims to replace
players by robots."
Musk has a history of being unconventional and posting
irreverent messages, making it hard sometimes to tell when he is
joking.
"Next I'm buying Coca-Cola to put the cocaine back in," he
tweeted on April 27, two days after Twitter's board accepted his
unsolicited offer to buy the company.
Referring back to that post, on Wednesday he tweeted: "And I'm
not buying Coca-Cola to put the cocaine back in, despite the
extreme popularity of such a move."
Musk's tweets about potential acquisitions have also landed him
in hot water with U.S. regulators in the past.
In 2018, he tweeted there was "funding secured" for a $72
billion deal to take Tesla private, but did not move ahead with
an offer. Musk and Tesla each paid $20 million civil fines - and
Musk stepped down as Tesla's chairman - to resolve U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) claims he defrauded
investors.
The SEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on
Musk's latest tweets, when messages were left outside usual
business hours.
Musk's ambitions range from colonising Mars to creating a new
sustainable energy economy, and in the process he has built the
most valuable car company in the world in Tesla, rocket company
SpaceX, and a slew of smaller firms. One is a tunnel maker
called the Boring Company.
WIDESPREAD OPPOSITION
Clamour from fans for a change of ownership at United, the
three-time winners of the European Cup, the most prestigious
club competition in the global game, has been intensifying.
British newspaper The Daily Mirror reported last year the
Glazers, who acquired the club in 2005 for 790 million pounds
($957 million), were prepared to sell, but only if they were
offered over 4 billion pounds.
The Glazers have not, however, given any indication of an
interest in selling the club.
They rarely make public statements regarding their ownership of
the club, but after fierce criticism for involvement in an
aborted European Super League plan, Joel Glazer wrote an open
letter to the club's fans
"I want to reassure you that my family and I care deeply about
Manchester United and feel a profound sense of responsibility to
protect and enhance its strength for the long-term, while
respecting its values and traditions," he said.
In its annual rankings this year, Forbes rated United, with its
huge global fanbase, the third most valuable soccer club in the
world, worth $4.6 billion, behind only Spanish giants Real
Madrid and Barcelona.
But the club's shares have slid a quarter in the past 12 months,
valuing it at just over $2 billion. The stock has risen in the
past month, gaining 16% to close at $12.78 on Tuesday.
Musk and his lawyer did not immediately respond to Reuters'
request for comment on his original Twitter post.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru and Hyunjoo Jin in San
Francisco; additional reporting by Tom Westbrook in Singapore,
Danilo Masoni in Milan and Joice Alves in London; Writing by
Peter Henderson, Michael Perry and Sayantani Ghosh; Editing by
Kenneth Maxwell and Mark Potter)
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