Ratcliffe owns 33% of the Mercedes F1 team
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Ineos chairman Jim Ratcliffe, who owns 33 per cent of the Mercedes Formula 1 team, has made a bid for the Chelsea football team, rivalling the consortium pitch which Lewis Hamilton is a part of.
Ratcliffe, who became a one third owner of the Silver Arrows along with Toto Wolff and Daimler at the end of 2020, has bid $4.25 billion for the West London club, dwarfing the three other bids, which all roughly amount to $2 billion each.
Roman Abramovich put Chelsea up for sale prior to being sanctioned due to his relationship with Russian president Vladimir Putin, after Russia invaded Ukraine. The club is in a race against time to secure a sale, with a special licence it currently operates under coming to an end on May 31.
“This is a British bid, for a British club”
Hamilton’s $10 million investment is part of a larger bid by Sir Martin Broughton, also involving tennis Serena Williams, whilst Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly and the co-owner of the Boston Celtics Stephen Pagliuca are behind the other pitches – however, Ineos is going for a particular sell.
“This is a British bid, for a British club,” it said in a statement.
“We will invest in Stamford Bridge to make it a world-class stadium, befitting of Chelsea FC. This will be organic and ongoing so that we will not move away from the home of Chelsea and risk losing the support of loyal fans.
Lewis Hamilton says that he will be able to get involved with running Chelsea if his consortium is successful in buying the football club. The seven-time F1 champion said that…
“We will continue to invest in the team to ensure we have a first-class squad of the world’s greatest players, coaches and support staff, in the men’s and women’s games.
“And we hope to continue to invest in the academy to provide opportunity for talented youngsters to develop into first class players.”
Ratcliffe’s bid involves $1.75 billion being invested over ten years, with a further $2.5 billion going to charitable trust to help victims of the war.
When questioned in Imola on his role in the Broughton bid, Hamilton – an Arsenal fan – said he was initially approached to become involved, and that he wanted to help have a worthwhile impact on the sport and the club.
“We haven’t won it yet,” he said. “But if we do, there’s lots of opportunity to get involved more and more over time, which is super exciting and particularly beyond racing, of wanting to help with the success they’ve already had and help it be even more successful.
“The part that we’re very aligned in is DnI [diversity and inclusion] and what they’ve already done there. You’ve seen, in that sport, there is still a lot of work to be done to being more diverse and more inclusive.”
