[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] The wealthy Ricketts family, owners of the Chicago Cubs in Major League Baseball (MLB), has teamed up with Ken Griffin, founder of Citadel and billionaire investor, to bid for the purchase of the English Premier League (EPL) club Chelsea.
According to the Guardian on the 16th (local time), the Ricketts family, owners of the Cubs, expressed their intention to acquire Chelsea and announced their plan to participate in the bidding. The Ricketts family stated, "We will submit a formal bid to purchase Chelsea, the world and European champions, on the 18th," adding, "We hope everything proceeds smoothly so that we can soon reveal the details of our plan."
The Ricketts family has consistently shown interest in acquiring football clubs and previously attempted to purchase the prestigious Italian club AC Milan in 2018 but was outbid by the American hedge fund Elliott.
In this Chelsea acquisition bid, Illinois billionaire investor Griffin is also participating in a personal capacity. According to Forbes, the Ricketts family's net worth is $4.9 billion (approximately 6 trillion KRW), while Griffin's net worth is about $27.5 billion.
Earlier, Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch who owns Chelsea, decided to sell the club earlier this month after facing sanctions pressure from the UK government and the Premier League following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Abramovich put Chelsea up for sale on the 2nd, before the UK government imposed asset freezing measures on the 10th, with an asking price of ?3 billion (approximately 4.8 trillion KRW).
The Guardian reported that besides the Ricketts family, other interested bidders include Todd Boehly, co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Jonathan Goldstein, CEO of UK real estate investment firm Cain International, and Swiss billionaire businessman Hansj?rg Wyss. They are reportedly waiting for the club to be sold at around ?2 billion to ?2.5 billion. Additionally, Robert Wood Johnson, owner of the NFL's New York Jets, and UK property developer Nick Candy have also expressed interest in acquiring Chelsea.
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