How much is Mike Ashley worth? Net worth of Newcastle owner

The takeover of the acquisition of Newcastle United once again dominated the Tyneside, the owner Mike Ashley announced the sale of the club before the end of the season.

Ashley, who bought the club in 2007, was criticized by supporters and football personalities for his lack of investment in the transfer market and the refusal of the director, Rafael Benitez, to strengthen the team. She recently gave an interview revealing that talks were being made. "More advanced than ever".

Ashley, owner of Sports Direct, a native of Walsall, put Newcastle up for sale in October 2017. Negotiations with potential buyers were broken after Ashley declared that he only wanted to sell the club to " good buyer ".

Newcastle fans were unhappy with their club's property situation and protested against Ashley staying away from their seats at some games to express their anger over his 11-year reign.

So how much is Ashley worth, what other businesses does he own and who could potentially buy Newcastle? Goal take a look at it.

Ashley's net worth is estimated at 2.21 billion pounds ($ 2.9 billion). Forbes. Sending to Sky Sports in 2018, Ashley said he could not compete with Manchester, as it was a "wealthy person taking the equivalent of A country ".

He said: "I invested 250 million pounds in the football club. There is no longer me. Now the club has to generate its own money.

"If someone told me that I'm rich – OK, in theory, I'm a billionaire, maybe even a multi-billionaire – but in reality, my wealth is entirely in Sports Direct shares that, as I I said the other week, are identical at the bottom of the screen.I do not have this money in the bank and so I do not have the opportunity to make a check of 200 million books.

"I do not have it, it's very simple, it's not there.I should sell the shares of Sports Direct to fund that."

"People outside football are watching and the way it is sometimes portrayed is that these kind of wealth terms are in the bank, they are not, and I have to say clearly that I'm not rich enough in football at now to compete with Man City and so on – not just Man City – where it's actually a wealthy individual taking the country equivalent, I can not and I will not do it. "

The implication that fans of the Magpies or even the manager, Rafael Benitez, has ever asked for the budget of the region suggested by Ashley has aroused the anger of many, while causing them to question about the comparison of the Direct Sports moguls compared to other Premier League owners.

Pundit Richard Keys has been criticized by Newcastle fans and the football community in general by suggesting that manager Benitez invest himself to buy the club after the Spaniard lamented the limited funds of the club.

Ashley, who is also president of Sports Direct, a sports retail company, took office as CEO in September 2016 following the resignation of former long-time CEO Dave Forsey.

He had founded Sports Direct in 1982, when he was only 18 years old. Since then, the company now has 700 stores across the country and owns other brands such as Everlast. The company went public in 2007 and Ashley realized a $ 1.8 billion gain through its IPO. In the same year he bought Sir John Hall's 41.6% interest in Newcastle United at £ 1 per share for a total cost of £ 55,342,223. In June 2007, Ashley held 77.06% of Newcastle United.

Barely a year later, Ashley tried to sell Newcastle after talking about heavy debts. In 2011, fans became angry after temporarily renaming the place of residence in Sports Direct Arena, St James's Park.

He then drew more criticism about buying a stake in Rangers FC because of conflict of interest concerns.

Ashley is also expected to hold stakes in JD Sports as well as Blacks Leisure Group, owner of the Millets outdoor retailer. He also has stakes in brands such as Agent Provocateur, which he paid around £ 25m to save from bankruptcy in 2017.

Sports Direct has earned a notorious reputation for unsatisfactory staffing. In 2013, a report stated that 90% of staff were under contract at zero hours. A Channel 4 documentary called the Shirebrook-based distribution center "sweatshop", and a subsequent Guardian investigation revealed that the company had fined staff for late timing, not rewarding overtime and forced staff to wait without being paid for security. check at the end of shifts.

Newcastle's takeover discussions once again dominated news after Ashley's dramatic intervention in December 2018, after announcing to Sky News that it intended to sell the club before the end of the year. month of January.

It is understood that his maintenance was unplanned, but he added more drama to an unstable takeover process that was, for the most part, ignored by the public – even those in management positions in the club were not aware. that the process was as advanced as Ashley had claimed on television.

Skepticism and doubt are the sentiments most felt by Newcastle supporters who are eager to separate Ashley from their club, but the interview took place after the same owner announced to his team in recent months that a change of owner was unlikely this season.

according to the ChronicleSeveral parties interested in purchasing Newcastle have interests ranging from fugitive to serious.

The former general manager of Chelsea and Manchester United, Peter Kenyon, would have been one of the pioneers in regards to the club's purchase. His interest has never been downplayed by senior Newcastle officials. Doubts remain however as to how it will be able to raise funds for the purchase, even though it is known that some of the funds will come from figures related to Rockefeller Capital Management, based in New York, as well as to other investors in the United States. .

The purchase of Kenyon would mean that the property would fall to several numbers rather than a single rich one.

The Telegraph had previously reported that a Turkish consortium was one of the favorites to take over the club, although little information is known about it. Since several groups have signed non-disclosure agreements, it would be difficult to talk about their interests.

Businesswoman Amanda Staveley (pictured above) embarked on the Magpies pursuit last year, which dominated the first half of the season, while she was attempting to raise the necessary funds to negotiate an agreement with the club.

However, the lawsuit ended when Ashley (through a spokesperson) accused her of wasting time. In an interview, she later told The Times that she was serious about the offer, that she had made three offers and that she remained an interested party – but the negotiations were failed and she is no longer in negotiations to buy the club.

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Staveley's highly publicized pursuit against Newcastle last year dominated the first half of the season as she sought funds to negotiate an agreement with Newcastle.

Ashley – through a spokesperson – accused her of wasting time and she later told the temperature she was serious, had made three offers and remained interested. But she is not negotiating and no longer interested in United.

Arthur Blank, owner of Atlanta Falcons, would be interested in investing in Newcastle, but the file was rejected by a spokesman for the club last month. They said Blank 's interest would be limited only to that of Atlanta United, Newcastle' s transfer club, Miguel Almiron 's target.