The battle for Man Utd ownership heats up + Netflix drops its Surprise Me button
The race to become Manchester United's new owner is heating up: British b’naire Jim Ratcliffe and Qatar’s Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani have both submitted bids to acquire the Premier League club. Ratcliffe, the chairman of INEOS and a lifelong Man Utd supporter, made a bid for a majority stake in the Glazer family-owned club, and hired JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs to advise on the transaction, the Telegraph reported. Meanwhile, Sheikh Jassim, the son of Qatar's former Prime Minister and the chairman of one of Qatar's biggest banks, said he wants to buy the Red Devils club outright with a debt-free investment, according to the Financial Times.
US investment giant also wants in on the action: US-based hedge fund Elliott Investment Management said has also made a last-ditch entry into the bidding battle, the Times reported. But the group, who previously owned AC Milan reportedly doesn't want to buy the team outright. Instead, they want to help provide financing for the bidding process.
How much will it cost? The Glazer family has made it clear that they will not negotiate a price lower than GBP 6 bn, according to The Sun. “It’s possible they are keener on a partial sale rather than a full one at this stage — as that might value the club higher,” the paper quoted a source it says has inside knowledge of the matter as saying. Shares of the New-York listed club registered record highs of USD 26.50 last week, according to FT.
Say goodbye to Netflix’s Surprise Me button: The streaming giant quietly nixed the feature — which was introduced in 2021 under the name Play Something — last month because it was being underutilized, The Wall Street Journal reports. The button was introduced to help users pick something to watch from the thousands of available options but was ultimately discontinued since customers usually access the service seeking a specific film, series or genre, which reduces the feature’s appeal. “We will continue to explore other ways to give members more options and ways to explore and discover content they want to watch,” a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement.