Manchester United Suffers Major Share Price Hit

Manchester United shares have seen their biggest ever one-day fall after it was revealed its US owners are considering taking it off the market.

Following reports that the Glazer family are no longer looking to sell the Premier League football club after months of rumours and negotiations, its shares fell by more than 18% in New York on Tuesday.

The initial report on the Glazers’ decision came from the Mail On Sunday, which claimed no prospective buyers met the asking price for the club.

The Glazer family, who also own NFL franchise Tampa Bay Buccaneers, initially announced they were considering the sale of Manchester United back in November.

Sir Jim Radcliffe’s Ineos Group and Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al Thani emerged as the frontrunners to buy the club, and the only two parties to offer in a final round of bids in May.

The offer from Sheikh Jassim was thought to be around £5bn and included a figure that would go direct to the sellers as well as a plan to make a significant amount of additional capital and infrastructure investment into the club.

However, it is now reported that the Manchester United’s co-chairmen, brothers Joel and Avram Glazer, are holding out for an offer of £10bn.

Tuesday’s share price fall took around $700m (£556m) off Manchester United’s stock market valuation, which is now valued at about $3.2bn (£2.5bn).

The Mail On Sunday report claimed that a source with long-standing close ties to the club’s owners says that the Glazer family may try again next year to sell the team when they hoped to attract more bidders.

The Glazer family bought Manchester United in 2005 for $790m.

THE BIG QUESTION