Today
The most athletic billionaire
Many sail lovers probably heard of the British billionaire James Ratcliffe – after all, he was behind the project of the British yacht for participation in the 36th draw of the America Cup.
In the creation of the INEOS Team UK, the development of the vessel and the preparation for the races, the 67-year-old Ratcliffe invested "only" 110 million pounds. The sum is, of course, huge, but 67-year-old Sir James is quite affordable. After all, he is the richest Briton, whose fortune is more than 21 billion pounds!
Another thing is surprising: this gentleman, to put it mildly, is the main sports patron of Great Britain! This is what we want to talk about today.
Ratcliffe is called the “king of chemicals”, he is the founder and owner of the chemical concern INEOS, which is the country's largest company. In addition, he has many other significant projects, including, for example, exploration and production of shale gas in the UK and the creation of the Ineos Grenadier SUV (its sales will begin in 2021), the “spiritual heir” (according to Ratcliffe), the famous Land Rover Defender.
Nevertheless, we decided not to write this note in order to talk about Ratcliffe-businessman. There are enough wealthy people in England. But there is no other such patron as Sir James in the country. Judge for yourself.
We started with a sail – now we continue. In addition, Ratcliffe recently owned the British team of the new, but already extremely popular international sailing series SailGP. The billionaire acquired this team so that members of INEOS Team UK have more opportunities for training in combat conditions.
But sailing is by no means limited to:
– In 2019, Ratcliffe bought the famous Team Sky bike stables, now called Team INEO. And in the same year, Team INEOS representative Egan Bernal won the Tour de France;
– in November 2017, the British football club FC Lausanne-Sport was acquired by the British;
– in August 2019, the French football club OGC Nice was acquired for 100 million euros;
– Ratcliffe invested heavily in the implementation of the Ineos 1:59 Challenge project (the so-called successful attempt by the runner Eliud Kipchoge to overcome the marathon distance faster than two hours);
And finally, just a few days ago, Sir James became the largest sponsor (and in fact the owner) of the Formula One Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team. The one for whom the famous Lewis Hamilton stands.
Uff, take a breath. There are many billionaires in Britain, as has already been said, but there is no one in the country who also supports sports. And all over the world, perhaps, too.
You can envy.
112 Today # 9913
Chief Editor
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