Premium – Transformative power of natural resources exposed in Man Utd bidding war
I loved reading the story below about Jim Ratcliffe, a 70-year-old self-made man who graduated from a Mancunian council house to become the wealthiest British native. Even if you regard football as a senseless waste of energy, you'll appreciate the ambition and drive of the creator of Ineos, a global chemicals and energy group.
Ratcliffe is locked in a bidding war for ownership of his favourite football team – the "working man's" club, Manchester United. In many ways, he'd be its perfect custodian. But despite Ratcliffe's riches and obvious intent, he is now the second favourite in the two-horse bidding war.
His rival is one Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad J.J. Al Thani, a member of the Qatari royal family. Around 150 years ago, the Al Thani patriarch carved out a desert state on the east coast of Saudi Arabia the size of Cyprus. The Al Thani's won the lottery of life when the world's largest gas field was discovered within its national boundary.
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