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The competition to buy Chelsea Football Club is becoming more intense as American billionaire, Ken Griffin, with a net worth four times that of Roman Abramovich has arrived in London for takeover talks.
According to Forbes, Griffin is worth a whopping £21billion and is the 53rd richest person in the world. His net worth surpasses that of Abramovich. The Russian oligarch is worth £6.35bn in comparison.
Griffin has increased his net worth by £9bn in the last year, thanks to his lucrative investments. Griffin is said to own two private jets as well as an art collection worth an estimated £611m.
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Griffin is said to have flown into London to throw his support behind the Ricketts family, who have seen their proposal to buy Chelsea Football Club met with furious fan reaction. A bid of around £3billion is expected to be enough to buy the club, but there are still plenty of negotiations yet to be had.
Despite recent fan protests, the Ricketts’ family are still understood to be the frontrunners in the race to purchase Chelsea. The Chicago Cubs Baseball team owners are competing against bids led by Todd Boehly, Sir Martin Broughton and Stephen Pagliuka.
The bidders will all be presenting their plans in front of the Premier League giant’s directors Eguene Tenenbaum and Marina Granovskaia and chairman Bruce Buck.
This move comes as Chelsea was put up for sale last month by owner Roman Abramovich. The Russian businessman was hit by UK Government sanctions in wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The report claimed he was a “Pro-Kremlin oligarch” with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Abramovich has always denied links with Vladimir Putin but was involved in early peace talks between Russia and Ukraine recently. The sanctions placed on him by the UK Government included the freezing of his assets, with Chelsea operating under a special sporting licence.
The 55-year-old has since put the club up for sale, with The Ricketts family, Todd Boehly, David Blitzer and Josh Harris, and Stephen Pagliuca the reported four remaining bids left. While Chelsea fans have displayed their discontent with the Ricketts family, their pursuit of Chelsea continues.
All bidders have been given until April 11 to present their final detailed plans to take over the club. It’s understood Griffin would become the majority shareholder of Chelsea football club if the Ricketts family finally takes over Chelsea.