Elon Musk says he is buying Manchester United, later says it’s a joke
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk arrives on the red carpet for the Axel Springer media award in Berlin on Dec. 1, 2020. (Hannibal Hanschke/Pool Photo via AP, File)
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(NewsNation) — Tesla CEO and mega-billionaire Elon Musk said he is buying Premier League soccer team Manchester United in a tweet Tuesday.
In typical Musk fashion, the tongue-in-cheek wording of his announcement left some room for speculation as to whether or not the world’s richest man was serious about the purchase: “Also, I’m buying Manchester United ur welcome,” Musk said in the tweet.
Further adding to the strangeness around Musk’s announcement is that it came as a reply to another tweet of his, which said, “To be clear, I support the left half of the Republican Party and the right half of the Democratic Party!”
Asked by a follower whether he was serious, Musk later tweeted, “No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. I’m not buying any sports teams.”
Manchester United is one of the most popular soccer clubs in the world and has an estimated value of $4.6 billion, according to Forbes, making it the third most valuable sports franchise in the world. Musk is worth an estimated $219 billion, according to Forbes.
Fans of Manchester United have been all but begging Musk to buy their beloved team from the Glazer family for months.
If Musk’s purchase of Manchester United is for real, and the world’s richest troll isn’t taking Twitter for a ride, then it would be the second time this year Musk has made himself the center of a major deal.
In April, he announced he was buying Twitter for $44 billion. That deal then fell through after Musk said Twitter would not provide him with information about how many bot accounts lived on the site.
Twitter sued Musk after he pulled out of the deal, and Musk has recently countersued Twitter, alleging the company committed fraud by not providing him the bot information.
Manchester United has struggled to start its Premier League season thus far, going winless in its first two matches. Fans fear the team will be unable to persuade superstar Cristiano Ronaldo to stick around in the coming years. Perhaps Musk’s rumored acquisition of the club will inject the team with a boost.
