Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s incredible life journey, from council house to buying into Man Utd thanks to net worth of £30bn
MANCHESTER UNITED investor Sir Jim Ratcliffe went from living in a council estate to amassing an astonishing net worth of £30billion.
One of Britain’s richest men comes from humble beginnings, growing up on the outskirts of Manchester in Failsworth.
His dad was as a carpenter and managed to work his way up to run a factory making furniture for science labs and his mum was a secretary.
The family lived in a council house until he was aged ten when they moved to Hull in East Yorkshire and he was educated at Beverley Grammar.
Ratcliffe struggled at school but studied for a degree in chemical engineering at the University of Birmingham.
The classroom was packed with close to 100 students and the future billionaire ranked towards the bottom on his arrival at uni.
He landed a job at BP during the summer holiday but was sacked after just three days as bosses found out he had eczema and allergies.
The new United chief then secured a role with rival petrol giant Esso, who sent him to the London Business School, helping him become an expert in turning around failing firms – later prompting his move for Ineos.
Ratcliffe eventually joined fabric and chemicals firm Courtaulds and stayed for a decade before moving to venture capital company Advent International.
Being handed a new BMW and a tripled salary was enough to convince him to make the step up.
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Marriage to first wife Amanda Townson followed and they had two sons, George and Samuel, before they divorced.
He also has a daughter with second wife, Alicia.
Another major turning point came when Ratcliffe took a gamble in 1998 by mortgaging his home and buying an Antwerp-based chemical company.
He and two friends transformed it into Ineos.
Sir Jim says he deliberated for a year over whether to go ahead with his idea, fearing that his family could lose their home if the firm failed.
Luckily, the business was a great success and fast-forward to 2018 and he had racked up a £21billion fortune.
Ineos employs 26,000 people worldwide and it sells 60million tons of chemicals each year, with an annual turnover of £45billion.
He used high-yield debt to fund deals before buying unwanted operations from groups such as BP, whose refining and petrochemical arm Innovent was snapped up by Ineos in 2006.
That gave his firm refineries in Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Scotland.
Sir Jim relocated Ineos’ head office to Rolle in Switzerland in 2010 in a move which cut its annual tax bill by £100million.
He said: “I did have this inkling that I wanted to be successful — that I wanted to be a millionaire one day. But I was just dreaming, really.”
As of 2023 on the Sunday Times Rich List, his net worth was put at £29.688billion.
Ratcliffe ranked second behind Indian-born British businessman Gopi Hinduja and his family, with their estimated wealth put at £35billion.
Sir Jim was knighted for services to business and investment in the late Queen Elizabeth II‘s 2018 Birthday Honours list.
Rich List compiler Robert Watts has said of him: “This is a guy from an ordinary background who has created extraordinary wealth very quickly. He seems unaffected by the wealth.
“He’s calm, quiet and doesn’t have the brashness you might think a billionaire would.
“He shows you don’t have do well in the classroom or be anything special early in your working life to make it as an entrepreneur.”
Ratcliffe has spent his money on a luxury home in Monaco, a £6million waterside mansion in Hampshire and a property in Chelsea.
His portfolio also includes a mega-house on Lake Geneva, Switzerland and a £130m super-yacht that can cater for 14 guests and even has a helipad.
Ratcliffe has always had a passion for sport and he is a boyhood Man Utd fan.
He was at the Nou Camp when Sir Alex Ferguson’s men came back at the death to beat Bayern Munich 2-1 to win the Champions League and secure the Treble in 1999.
Ratcliffe made a name for himself in sport when he bought Swiss football team Lausanne in 2017.
Ineos then purchased British cycling side Team Sky two years later – now known as the Ineos Grenadiers.
He expanded his football portfolio, snapping up French side Nice for around £100million in 2019.
Ratcliffe also owns a third of the Mercedes Formula One team.
And now at the top of his tree is Man Utd, with his 25 per cent purchase confirmed on Christmas Eve in 2023.
Ratcliffe spent £1.03billion to acquire the stake and he will now run football operations at Old Trafford.
