Elon Musk said his tweet about buying Manchester United was a “joke” after the English football club became the latest listed company to be the subject of a cryptic post from the head of Tesla. Late Tuesday, after a post on US politics, Musk appeared to joke about his troubled record trying to buy public companies when he tweeted: “I’m buying Manchester United, you’re welcome.” About four hours later, he added: “This is a long running joke on Twitter. I don’t buy sports teams.” Some of the billionaire’s 103 million Twitter followers have been urging him to buy the football club, which is languishing at the bottom of the English Premier League after suffering its worst start to a season in a century. Much of the frustration with the club’s performance in recent years, particularly following the departure of beloved manager Sir Alex Ferguson, has been directed at the Glazer family, who have controlled the club since their £790m takeover in 2005. Musk’s initial tweet came after the day’s trading on the New York Stock Exchange, where Manchester United’s market capitalization was $2.08 billion at the close, down 24% over the past 12 months. The club has not won a title since 2013. In January, the club’s revenue surpassed that of local rivals Manchester City for the first time, according to consultants KPMG. Musk has been criticized by the Securities and Exchange Commission for an earlier tweet that falsely claimed he had “secured financing” to take Tesla private. More recently, Musk’s tweets suggesting he would make a bid to buy Twitter did come to fruition with a serious move, but he is now seeking to back out of the $44 billion deal.
