Over the past 12 months, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, a co-owner of Manchester United, has seen his wealth drop by about £6.5 billion. Of those on The Sunday Times Rich List 2025, the British millionaire suffered the most staggering loss.
Ratcliffe led the rankings in 2018 and came in at number four on the 2024 list. However, he is currently the seventh richest person in Britain, after Sir James Dyson and Gopi Hinduja and family, who are at the top of the list.
According to the 2024 Rich List, the INEOS CEO, who fought for a plan to acquire United last year, was worth £23.519 billion. Now, though, that has dropped by £6.473 billion to £17.046 billion.
He has lost about £3 billion more than Sir Leonard Blavatnik, the second-largest slider on the top 10 list, who had £3.5 billion taken out of his £25.725 billion total fortune. Ratcliffe and INEOS have been contacted by Mirror Football for comment.
Although Ratcliffe still has a sizable personal worth, the Red Devils’ recent financial difficulties do not bode well for supporters looking for an instant comeback to success under the Failsworth-born entrepreneur.
Since joining the team in February 2024, Ratcliffe has been brutally honest about the terrible financial condition he has encountered at Old Trafford.
The 72-year-old shocked fans in his extensive interview with Gary Neville earlier this year, even though the 13-time Premier League champions often rank among the top-earning teams in international sports.
He stated in March that without his £232 million ($300 million) investment, the club would run out of money this year. “By the end of this year, Manchester United would have ran out of funds. The club runs out of money in November of this year,” he informed the United great.
Ratcliffe – who has led multiple redundancy rounds at the club since his arrival – explained just how serious the financial situation has evolved. “If you think about Manchester United as a business, it’s gone off the rails. It’s gone off the rails a long way, really,” he said.
“If you look at the numbers, the numbers were fairly scary, really. Because they’d sort of lost control, I think, of where the ship was headed. And the costs had got out of control.
“If you think of it in really simple terms, you’ve got the operating costs, which are all the staff and the fixed costs of running the business. And then you’ve got all the squad costs, player salaries and player purchases.
“In super-simple terms, the club has been spending more money than it’s been earning now for the last seven years, and it ends in a very difficult place.”
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