Jim Ratcliffe was knighted in 2018.
Jim Ratcliffe is one of Britain’s richest people who’s worth more than $11 billion, per Bloomberg.
A lifelong Manchester United fan, the 70-year-old is one of the bidders for the soccer team.
From owning a cycling team to sponsoring the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team, here’s a look at his life.
Jim Ratcliffe is the founder and chief executive of Ineos, one of the world’s largest chemical companies.
Getty/Bertrand Guay
Source: Ineos
A lifelong Manchester United fan, Ratcliffe submitted this week for the soccer team.
Getty/Catherine Ivill
Source: BBC
He’s vowed to “put the Manchester back into Manchester United.”
Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images
Source: BBC
Ratcliffe is competing against Qatar’s Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, who submitted a revised bid for the club on Saturday, and Finnish entrepreneur Thomas Zilliacus, per BBC Sport.
Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images
Source: BBC
The initial bids were thought to be about $4.2 billion, per Sky Sports News. The Glazer family, which bought Manchester for almost £800 million in 2005, are thought to be seeking between £5 billion and £6 billion ($6.1 billion to $7.3 billion).
Getty/Laurence Griffiths
Source: Sky Sports
The 70-year-old magnate is worth more than $11 billion, per Bloomberg, and made his fortune in the chemicals industry.
Bryn Lennon/Getty Images
Source: Bloomberg Billionaires Index
Ratcliffe was born in Manchester and lived in public housing until he was 10 years old.
DenisTangneyJr/Getty Images
Source: Headspace
At 18, Ratcliffe went to Birmingham University to study chemical engineering before completing an MBA at London Business School.
Getty Images
Source: Bloomberg
After graduating in 1974, he worked as an engineer for the oil company Esso, owned by ExxonMobil, and for BP before joining the fabric and chemicals producer Courtaulds.
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Source: Headspace, BBC
He was headhunted in 1989 by private equity firm Advent and started looking for investment opportunities.
VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images
Source: Bloomberg, Headspace
He joined forces with former chemicals executive John Hollowood and bought BP’s chemicals division in 1992. Two years later it listed on the London Stock Exchange and was worth £100 million (about $150 million then).
AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth
Source: BBC
The business became Inspec, with Hollowood as chairman and Ratcliffe as CEO.
Valery Hache/AFP via Getty Images
Source: BBC
In 1998 Ratcliffe set up his own firm called Ineos.
Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Source: BBC
Ratcliffe is the majority shareholder and decided not to float the company, which has let him to move quickly on deals.
Reuters
Source: BBC
Green groups criticized him after Ineos imported the first shipment of US shale gas, which is derived from fracking, to the UK in 2016.
Thomson Reuters
Source: BBC
Ratcliffe was knighted in 2018, making him Sir Jim, but reportedly moved to Monaco in 2020, which does not levy personal or capital gains tax. He declined to confirm the move but told the BBC he tried to “give back to the UK” and had invested billions in the country.
John Greim/LightRocket/Getty Images
Source: BBC
In 2016 Ratcliffe started thinking about producing a 4×4 after Land Rover announced it was discontinuing the Defender.
Ineos
Source: The Times of London
He went ahead with the idea and the Ineos Grenadier starts at £55,000 ($67,000). “It’s a combination of British knowhow and German engineering,” he told The Times of London.
Ineos
Source: Ineos Grenadier. The Times of London
In 2017, Ratcliffe bought the luxury motorcycle wear maker Belstaff, whose jackets were once worn by actor Steve McQueen and David Beckham.
Brittany Fields
Source: BBC
Ratcliffe bought the cycling team Team Sky in 2019 and renamed it the Ineos Grenadiers.Team Ineos Grenadiers rides Pinarello bikes.
Michael Steele/Getty Images
Source: Ineos Grenadiers
In 2020, Ineos signed a partnership with Formula One, sponsoring Mercedes-AMG Petronas. “They have consistently shown that they are at the forefront of technological innovation and human performance,” Ratcliffe said at the time.
Bryn Lennon/Getty Images
Source: Ineos
Ineos has a third of the team along with Mercedes-Benz Group and Toto Wolff.
Emilio Morenatti – Pool/Getty Images
Source: Ineos
Ratcliffe became the owner of Swiss Super League team FC Lausanne-Sport in 2017 and French soccer club Nice two years later.
Valery Hache/AFP via Getty Images
Source: Ineos
Ratcliffe also backed a luxury clubhouse in the French ski resort of Courchevel, where he and his daughter have skied for years.
Valery Hache/AFP via Getty Images; Peter Turnley/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images;
Source: The Guardian
He also reportedly owns a superyacht, the Hampshire II, which was built in 2012.
Valery Hache/AFP via Getty Images
Source: SuperYacht Fan.
He tried but failed to acquire Chelsea FC last year when Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich was forced to sell the team after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Clive Mason/Getty Images
Source: BBC
