Billionaire tech entrepreneur, Elon Musk, has dashed the hope of Manchester United
hours after tweeting he is going to buy currently struggling English football club owned by the Glazer family.
Elon Musk tweeted on Tuesday night: “Also, I’m buying Manchester United ur welcome.”
The fans were stunned by the shocking announcement, with one United supporter saying: “Elon this is a legally binding intent to purchase, it’s a new law in the inflation reduction act.
Another one said: “You have absolutely no idea the sheer amount of hope you just have to a million fans worldwide.
“Please do buy us, though.”
And another said: “Elon Musk, superstar, Bought Man United with electric cars.”
One remarked: “WE MIGHT BE BACK!”
Piers Morgan waded in, saying: “Trust me on this, Elon – you don’t want to go anywhere near them… if you want to buy a football team, try @Arsenal”
But fans’ hopes of having the outspoken billionaire were soon dashed when he claimed he had no intention of taking charge of the club.
When asked if he was being ‘serious’, the Tesla chief said: “No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter.
“I’m not buying any sports teams.
“Although, if it were any team, it would be Man U. They were my fav team as a kid. Standup is my side-hustle.”
The tweet turnaround comes as Musk seeks to exit a $44 billion agreement to buy Twitter only four months after announcing on the platform he would buy the social media company, which has taken him to court.
Musk has a history of being unconventional and posting irreverent tweets, making it difficult sometimes to tell when he is joking.
“Next I’m buying Coca-Cola to put the cocaine back in,” he tweeted on April 27, two days after Twitter’s board accepted his unsolicited offer to buy the company.
Referring back to that post, on Wednesday he tweeted: “And I’m not buying Coca-Cola to put the cocaine back in, despite the extreme popularity of such a move.”
Musk’s tweets about potential acquisitions have landed him in hot water with U.S. regulators in the past.
In 2018, he tweeted that there was “funding secured” for a $72 billion deal to take Tesla private, but did not move ahead with an offer.
Musk and Tesla each paid $20 million civil fines – and Musk stepped down as Tesla’s chairman – to resolve U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) claims that Musk defrauded investors.
The SEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Musk’s tweet that he was buying the club outside usual business hours.