Business | Weekend profile

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, chemicals magnate turned sports mogul 

The British billionaire is buying up teams from sailing to football to cycling 

Sir James Arthur 'Jim' Ratcliffe waves before the French L1 football match between AS Monaco and OGC Nice at the "Louis II Stadium" in Monaco.
Photograph: Getty Images

ONE OF BRITAIN’S richest men, Sir Jim Ratcliffe was long considered a magnate who kept a low profile. Not any more. He and INEOS, a chemicals firm he founded in 1998, have stepped into the limelight—by expanding into the sports business, first by buying FC Lausanne-Sport, a Swiss football club, in 2017. Now, INEOS sponsors the All Blacks, the world’s most famous rugby side; its boss holds a stake in Mercedes, a leading Formula One outfit; the company owns INEOS Grenadiers, an elite cycling team. And INEOS Britannia, the group’s sailing venture, is the first British team since 1964 to reach the final of the America’s Cup, the world’s oldest sailing competition. Its 13 races against the holders, from New Zealand, start on Saturday.

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