Elon Musk says he is buying Manchester United, later clarifies it was a ‘joke’

Elon Musk tweeted on Wednesday that he was joking when he said that he was going to buy the club

Tesla CEO Elon Musk. File. | Photo Credit: Reuters

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, on Tuesday tweeted that he was buying football club Manchester United Plc, without offering any details. However, on Wednesday, he tweeted that he was joking when he said that he was going to buy the club.

“No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. I’m not buying any sports teams,” Mr. Musk said, when asked by a user if he was serious about buying the club.

About four hours earlier, Mr. Musk had tweeted: “I’m buying Manchester United ur (sic) welcome”. Some Manchester United fans, disgruntled by their club’s declining fortunes of late, had previously urged Mr. Musk on Twitter to consider buying the club.

Unconventional tweets and comments

Mr. Musk has a history of being unconventional and making irreverent tweets, and it was not immediately clear on Tuesday whether he planned to pursue a deal to secure Manchester United.

Mr. Musk is currently trying to exit a $44 billion agreement to buy the social media company, which has taken him to court.

Manchester United is one of the world’s best supported football clubs. They have been champions of England a record 20 times and have won the European Cup, the most prestigious club competition in the global game, three times.

Dissatisfaction among fans at the Glazers’ perceived lack of ambition to bring in top players intensified after the club finished sixth in the English Premier League last season, while crosstown rivals Manchester City won a second successive title.

The football club had a market capitalisation of $2.08 billion, as of Tuesday’s stock market close.

Some fans have urged Mr. Musk to buy Manchester United instead of buying Twitter.

Mr. Musk has a history of unconventional actions and comments, making it difficult sometimes to tell when he is joking.

His ambitions range from colonising Mars to creating a new sustainable energy economy, and in the process he has built the most valuable car company in the world, electric vehicle maker Tesla, rocket company SpaceX, and a slew of smaller firms. One is a tunnel maker called the Boring Company.

Mr. Musk has appeared to smoke marijuana in a podcast and fought U.S. regulators over his comments about his plans for Tesla, including an abandoned effort to take it private.

Forbes estimates his fortune at $270 billion.