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Qatari Sheikh Submits Fifth Bid to Buy Manchester United Soccer Team From Jewish Owners
by Shiryn Ghermezian
A Manchester United v Manchester City (0-2) match in the Premier League on Nov. 6, 2021. Photo: Ardfern via Wikimedia Commons
Billionaire and Qatari Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani submitted earlier this week his fifth and reportedly final bid to buy the English Premier League soccer team Manchester United and said he wants an answer by Friday, sources told ESPN.
Sheikh Jassim gave his new offer for 100 percent control of the soccer club to the Raine Group, the New York-based investment bank that is handling the sale on behalf of the team’s Jewish owners, the Glazer family. Sources told ESPN that the businessman will not pursue the team past Friday.
The sheikh is the chairman of Qatar Islamic Bank and is also a member of the Qatari royal family, according to the Daily Mail. His father is former Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani and has been involved in running the soccer team Paris Saint-Germain, the British publication added.
The Glazers announced in November 2022 that they would consider “strategic alternatives” to running the club, including new investment or a total sale of the team. Sheikh Jassim submitted his first bid in February, then another in mid-March, and a third offer in late April. His fourth bid in May was reportedly close to 5 billion Euros ($5.3 billion) but not exactly the Glazer family’s valuation of 6 billion Euros ($6.4 billion) for the team, according to Sky News. Details about his fifth offer this week have not been revealed.
Sheikh Jassim’s rival bidder is British billionaire and chairman of the INEOS chemical company Sir Jim Ratcliffe. He has also submitted offers since February but for 51 percent of the club and will allow co-chairmen Joel Glazer and Avram Glazer to keep a stake in the team, ESPN reported. The publication added that some US-based investment firms have additionally made offers for a minority stake in Manchester United.
The Glazer family’s patriarch, Malcolm Glazer, was born to Lithuanian Jewish immigrants whose family members were murdered in the Holocaust. Malcolm purchased Manchester United in 2005 for a $1.47 billion and also owned the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He died in 2014 at the age of 85.
