Lewis Hamilton expanded his impressive entrepreneurial portfolio back in 2022 after he became a part-owner of the NFL team Denver Broncos. The Mercedes driver confirmed that he was part of the consortium that bought the Football team for $4.65 billion.
This was not the first time Hamilton got involved in the business of sports teams. In April last year, he partnered up with tennis star Serena Williams to join Sir Martin Broughton in an attempt to take over Chelsea from Roman Abramovich. However, that deal was not finalized as they were outbid by Todd Boehly’s consortium.
🗣️ “I am very close with Jim so I am aware of where he is at with United”
Lewis Hamilton has spoken about his interest in joining Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s bid 👀https://t.co/989iTp8bLr pic.twitter.com/RQL1OElV39
— Mirror Football (@MirrorFootball) November 21, 2023
Now, Hamilton has shown interest in partnering up with Sir Jim Ratcliffe to try to buy a 25% stake in Manchester United for $1.62 billion. As per The Mirror, The 7x World Champion said,
“I do want to get more and more involved in teams because I really do believe in black ownership – there is a lack of it in sports.”
Hamilton is already pretty close to Ratcliffe as the latter’s chemical company, INEOS, owns a third of the Mercedes F1 team. Ratcliffe has also recently taken a liking to soccer and already owns two soccer teams – OGC Nice and Lausanne-Sport, apart from his investment in F1.
Toto Wolff might get involved in the Manchester United deal
Lewis Hamilton is not the only Mercedes figurehead who has the possibility to get involved in the Manchester United ownership with Ratcliffe. Team principal Toto Wolff was also speculated to have been taking an interest in the whole issue, especially with Ratcliffe being the co-owner of Mercedes alongside Wolff.
However, Wolff explained during the Sao Paulo GP that the deal isn’t likely to happen. He explained that he was being asked the question a lot and commented, “I said: ‘He’s such a clever person, if I could contribute I’d have a chat’ – but no, that’s very far away.”
🔴 Toto Wolff a étudié les échecs de Manchester United pour ne pas faire les mêmes erreurs en #F1 avec Mercedes. ⚽️
Le succès de Mercedes enchaînant 8 titres mondiaux est équivalant au succès de Man. United sous Sir Alex Ferguson… avant la chute massive de niveau aujourd’hui. pic.twitter.com/of4YdI2RbC
— Off Track (@OffTrack_FR) August 15, 2022
Even though Wolff recently reached a valuation of over $1 billion, he was clear to point out that it isn’t cash that he carries around in his pocket. Rather it is just a hypothetical number that someone has come up with.
Another important issue that would stop him from getting involved with Manchester United is that he lacks allegiance to any particular premier league club. However, Wolff has admitted that he is a fan of Pep Guardiola of Manchester City, therefore, getting involved with their biggest rivals would be quite difficult for the Austrian Billionaire.
