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Manchester United’s American owners have confirmed they could sell the club as they explore “strategic alternatives” to boost its sporting and commercial success.

It comes after Sky’s City editor Mark Kleinman exclusively revealed the Glazer family were preparing to announce the news and were already being advised by bankers.

Fans of Manchester United have long campaigned against the club’s American owners, who they accuse of a lack of investment and saddling the club with too much debt.

After 17 years in charge, they said on Tuesday that the prospect of selling was now on the table.

A statement said the board of directors was “commencing a process to explore strategic alternatives for the club” which will include “new investment into the club, a sale, or other transactions”.

It said stadium and infrastructure redevelopment and expansion of the club’s global commercial activities will all be looked at.

Avram Glazer (L) and Joel Glazer
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Avram Glazer (L) and Joel Glazer said the review would serve the best interests of fans and shareholders

Manchester United have struggled to get anywhere near the golden era of Sir Alex Ferguson since he stepped down as manager in 2013.

The club’s facilities, current manager Erik ten Hag and the attitude of the Glazer family were also criticised by Cristiano Ronaldo in a recent interview with Piers Morgan.

“The Glazers, they don’t care about the club. I mean, professional sport, as you know, Manchester is a marketing club,” said the player.

The fallout led to the Portuguese star and Manchester United announcing on Tuesday that he was immediately leaving the club by mutual consent.

Another former United star, Gary Neville, has previously called the Glazers “scavengers” who “need booting out of this football club and booting out of this country”.

He made the comments after the club was among those looking to form a breakaway European Super League – an idea lambasted by most of the footballing world.

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Manchester United supporters at Old Trafford hold up a banner that read 'Glazers Out' on the stands in April. Pic: AP
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Protests against the owners have been going on for years. Pic: AP

Could Manchester-born billionaire make a bid?

Avram Glazer and Joel Glazer, executive co-chairmen and directors, said their review would be “fully focused on serving the best interests of our fans, shareholders, and various stakeholders”.

However, the statement cautioned that a sale – or any other deal – is not guaranteed.

A partial sale to new investors, with money being raised to redevelopment Old Trafford, is one potential outcome, says Sky’s Mark Kleinman.

HUNT FOR NEW OWNERS MAY PUT FANS IN MORAL BIND


Rob Harris

Rob Harris

Sports correspondent

@RobHarris

The focus on Qatar for the World Cup underscores football’s transformed financial landscape in the 17 years of the Glazer family’s ownership of Manchester United.

It’s been a period of decline at Old Trafford, while state-owned clubs have been on the ascendancy – with owners with the financial firepower to splurge cash to sign the superstars and amass silverware.

They have exposed a business model at Old Trafford that sees the growth in commercial revenue necessary to service a debt that didn’t exist until the Glazers’ leveraged takeover and still stands at over £500m.

It has taken more than £1bn to service that debt since 2005. Even though as much has still been spent on net transfers at the same time, the need for investment across the club’s infrastructure was exposed by Cristiano Ronaldo before his abrupt departure.

Protests against the Glazers faded mostly after 2005 while Sir Alex Ferguson delivered title after title, but the Premier League hasn’t been won since his retirement in 2013.

And United are without any trophy since 2017 – a drought that has reignited dissent against the American owners.

Meanwhile, the clubs with sovereign wealth cash to speed freely – within football financial regulations – are proving hard to keep up with.

Manchester City – in United’s shadow until being bought by Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour in 2008 – have won the league in six of the last 12 seasons.

Newcastle are already resurgent and challenging for Champions League qualification – sitting two spots above United in third place in the league – after a year under Saudi ownership.

And Paris Saint-Germain – owned by Qatar since 2011 – have won the French title eight times since then.

Catching them on the pitch would require a new owner with the investment to not only upgrade the squad, but also the stadium and training facilities.

Finding state ownership is not simple. Especially investors not linked to those already running a club due to football regulations.

And fans could be placed in a moral bind – if it means swapping the aggressively capitalist model of the Glazers for owners backed by a country with a questionable human rights record.

Potential buyers could include Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the British billionaire and a long-time fan, having grown up in Manchester.

He said in the summer he would be interested if the club was up for sale, but in October revealed he’d met the Glazers and they “don’t want to sell”.

Billionaires from around the world would also likely be linked to bids, as would sovereign investors hoping to emulate the takeover at Newcastle United – now owned by Saudi state-backed investors.

There will also be speculation that the Red Knights, a consortium led by former United director and leading economist Lord O’Neill, could revive their interest from 2010.

Manchester United’s review comes a few weeks after Liverpool’s US owners said they were also open to offers and already had interest from groups looking to buy shares.

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Steel tycoon Gupta’s troubles deepen amid Australian probe

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Steel tycoon Gupta's troubles deepen amid Australian probe

Sanjeev Gupta, the metals tycoon whose main British business was forced into compulsory liquidation last week, is facing a deepening probe by Australian regulators into his operations in the country.

Sky News has learnt that officials from the Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC) last week served Mr Gupta’s Liberty Steel group with a new demand for information about its activities.

Sources said the regulator had also taken possession of a mobile phone belonging to Mr Gupta as part of the probe.

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One insider said that other senior executives at the company may also have had electronic devices confiscated, although the accuracy of this claim could not be verified on Thursday morning.

Both ASIC and a spokesman for Mr Gupta’s GFG conglomerate refused to comment on the suggestion that a search warrant had been produced by the watchdog.

ASIC’s deepening investigation comes a month after it said that three of GFG Alliance’s companies had been ordered by the Supreme Court of New South Wales to lodge outstanding annual reports with it.

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It is the latest headache to hit Mr Gupta, whose companies remain under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office in the UK.

Last week, the Official Receiver took control of Speciality Steels UK following a winding-up petition from creditors led by Greensill Capital, the collapsed finance firm.

Mr Gupta remains intent on buying SSUK back, and has assembled financing from BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, Sky News revealed last week.

SSUK employs nearly 1,500 people at steel plants in South Yorkshire, and makes highly engineered steel products for use in sectors such as aerospace, automotive and oil and gas.

“[Gupta Family Group] will now continue to advance its bid for the business in collaboration with prospective debt and equity partners and will present its plan to the official receiver,” Jeffrey Kabel, chief transformation officer, at Liberty Steel, said after SSUK’s collapse.

“GFG continues to believe it has the ideas, management expertise and commitment to lead SSUK into the future and attract major investment.”

“The plan that GFG presented to the court would have secured new investment in the UK steel industry, protecting jobs and establishing a sustainable operational platform under a new governance structure with independent oversight,” Mr Kabel added.

“Instead, liquidation will now impose prolonged uncertainty and significant costs on UK taxpayers for settlements and related expenses, despite the availability of a commercial solution.”

Mr Gupta wants to hand control of SSUK to his family in a bid to alleviate concerns about his influence.

One source close to the situation claimed that the ownership structure devised by Mr Gupta would be independent, ring-fenced from him and have “robust standards of governance”.

Behind Tata Steel and British Steel, SSUK is the third-largest steel producer in the country.

Other parts of Mr Gupta’s empire have been showing signs of financial stress for years.

Mr Gupta is said to have explored whether he could persuade the government to step in and support SSUK using the legislation enacted to take control of British Steel’s operations.

His overtures were dismissed by Whitehall officials.

He had previously sought government aid during the pandemic but that plea was also rejected by ministers.

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Nvidia beats revenue expectations in boost to AI investment and US stock markets

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Nvidia beats revenue expectations in boost to AI investment and US stock markets

The world’s most valuable company, and first to be valued at $4trn (£2.9trn), beat market expectations in keenly anticipated financial results.

Microchip maker Nvidia recorded revenues of $46.7bn (£34.6bn) in just three months up to July, latest financial data from the company showed, slightly better than Wall Street observers had expected.

The company’s performance is seen as a bellwether for artificial intelligence (AI) demand, with investors paying close attention to see whether the hype is overblown or if significant investment will pay off.

Originally a creator of gaming graphics hardware, Nvidia’s chips help power AI capability – and the UK’s most powerful supercomputer.

Nvidia’s graphics processors underpin products such as ChatGPT from OpenAI and Gemini from Google.

Other tech giants – Microsoft, Meta and Amazon – make up Nvidia’s biggest customers and are paying large sums to embed AI into their products.

Why does it matter?

Nvidia has been central to the boom in AI development and the surge in tech stock valuations, which has seen stock markets reach record highs.

It represents about 8% of the value of the US S&P 500 stock market index of companies relied on to be stable and profitable.

Strong results will continue to fuel record highs in the market. Conversely, results that fail to live up to the hype could trigger a market tumble.

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Nvidia itself saw its share price rise more than 40% over the past year. Its value impacts anyone with cash in the US stock market, such as pension funds.

The S&P 500 rose 14% over the past year, and the tech-company-heavy NASDAQ gained 21%, largely thanks to Nvidia.

As such, its earnings can move markets as much as major economic or monetary policy announcements, like an interest rate decision.

Sir Keir Starmer with NVIDIA chief Huang at London Tech Week. Pic: AP
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Sir Keir Starmer with NVIDIA chief Huang at London Tech Week. Pic: AP

What next?

Revenue rises are forecast to continue to rise as Nvidia said it expected a rise to roughly $54bn (£40bn) in the next three months, more than the $53.14bn (£39.3bn) anticipated by analysts.

This excludes any potential shipments to China as export of Nvidia’s H20 chip, designed with the Biden administration’s export crackdown on advanced AI powering chips in mind, had been banned under US national security grounds.

But in recent weeks, Nvidia and another chipmaker, AMD, reached an unprecedented agreement to pay the Trump administration a 15% portion of China sales in return for export licences to send chips to China.

There were no H20 sales at all to China in the second quarter of the year, the period for which results were released on Wednesday evening.

Previously, 13% of Nvidia’s revenue came from China, with nearly 50% coming from the US.

Market reaction

Despite the expectation-beating results, Nvidia shares were down in after-hours trading, as the massive revenue rises previously booked by the company were not repeated in the latest quarter.

Compared to a year ago, revenues rose 56% and 6% compared to the three months up to April.

The absence of Chinese sales in forecasts appeared to disappoint.

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Bonuses to rise for Ryanair staff spotting oversized baggage

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Bonuses to rise for Ryanair staff spotting oversized baggage

Ryanair staff are to get more money for spotting and charging for oversized baggage, the company’s chief executive has said.

Michael O’Leary said he made “absolutely no apology” for catching people who are “scamming the system”.

The reward for intercepting passengers travelling with bags larger than permitted will increase from €1.50 (£1.29) to €2.50 (£2.15) per bag in November, and the monthly €80 (£68.95) payment cap will be scrapped, Mr O’Leary said.

At present, the budget airline allows travellers a free 40cm x 30cm x 20cm bag, which can fit under the seat in front, and charges for further luggage up to 55cm x 40cm x 20cm in size.

Customers face fines of up to £75 for an oversized item if it is brought to the boarding gate.

“I make absolutely no apology for it whatsoever”, Mr O’Leary said.

“I am still mystified by the number of people with rucksacks who still think they’re going to get through the gate and we won’t notice the rucksack”, he added.

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Around 200,000 passengers per year are charged bag fees at airport gates.

“We have more work to do to get rid of them”, Mr O’Leary said.

“We are running a very efficient, very affordable, very low-cost airline, and we’re not letting anybody get in the way.”

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The airline does not support a European Union proposal to ensure customers get a free cabin bag, he said.

Air fares

After a 7% fall in air fares for the year to 31 March, Mr O’Leary said he expected ticket prices to go back up this financial year.

“We expect to get most of last year’s 7% decline, but not all,” he told reporters in a news conference.

“We have sold about 70% of our September seats, but we have another 30% to sell, and it’s those last fares, what people pay for all those last-minute bookings through the remainder of September, that will ultimately determine what average airfares are.”

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