After Elon Musk joked about buying Manchester United (MU) on Twitter, the stock of the English football club surged in premarket trading on August 17.
Specifically, MU’s stock – traded under the ticker MANU on the New York Stock Exchange – saw a slight increase of 3.68% before the official trading session began. Following that, the stock jumped by as much as 17% thanks to Musk’s tweet.
“Am I buying Manchester United?” Musk tweeted.
However, shortly after, when a user asked if he was serious about the intention to buy MU, Elon Musk replied, “No, this is an old joke on Twitter. I am not buying any sports clubs.” Nevertheless, the world’s richest billionaire asserted that he has been a fan of MU since childhood.
According to CNBC, based on the latest market valuation, purchasing the English football club would cost Musk around $2 billion. MU declined to comment on the matter.
Before clarifying, the Tesla CEO’s tweet garnered 573,000 likes and was retweeted over 140,000 times. MU fans expressed surprise but remained hopeful as many are criticizing the football management of the Glazer family, the current owners of the club.
Last year, the British newspaper The Daily Mirror reported that the Glazers were preparing to sell MU but only if the price exceeded £4 billion ($4.84 billion). A few months ago, MU fans even launched a social media campaign urging Musk to drop the Twitter deal to buy the Old Trafford club.
“Listen, I can’t create magic. I’m off to buy McDonald’s and fix some ice cream machines,” the Tesla CEO responded to the suggestion.
Back in April this year, Musk tweeted that he would buy Coca-Cola to “put cocaine in it.” On the morning of August 17, the billionaire clarified that months-old tweet. “I also won’t be buying Coca-Cola to put cocaine in it,” Musk wrote.
While the Tesla CEO has no intention of buying MU, another billionaire is keen to do so. According to information from The Guardian, billionaire Jim Ratcliffe confirmed that he is interested in acquiring the football club.
On Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires list, Mr. Ratcliffe has a net worth of $13 billion and is the third richest person in the UK. He is the founder, chairman, and majority owner of the chemical company Ineos Group. Previously, this billionaire also expressed interest in buying Chelsea from Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.