Jim Ratcliffe

Ratcliffe was born in October 1952 and holds British nationality. He began his career at Exxon Chemicals, where he completed a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at London Business School, and later moved to the British company Courtaulds.⁠[1][1][2]

In 1992, Ratcliffe led the successful buyout of Inspec Group plc.⁠[2]

In 1998, Ratcliffe left Inspec to acquire INEOS plc from Inspec, and he has been chairman of INEOS ever since. INEOS was formed in May 1998; its founding asset was BP’s former site in Antwerp, bought for £84 million and employing just 400 people at the time. From March 19, 1998, to March 31, 2010, he was registered at the UK’s Companies House as a director of INEOS Group Limited.⁠[2][3][3][1][1]

In 2001, INEOS acquired Phenolchemie (forming INEOS Phenol), took a majority shareholding in EVC, acquired Dow Chemicals’ ethanolamine and other businesses, and acquired ICI’s KLEA and chlor-chemicals businesses as well as Crosfield, forming INEOS Fluor, INEOS Chlor, and INEOS Silicas.⁠[3][3]

In 2005, INEOS acquired BP’s subsidiary Innovene, which INEOS calls a “transformational acquisition”; the following year, INEOS restructured Innovene into several operating businesses, including INEOS Nitriles, INEOS Olefins, INEOS Polyolefins, and INEOS Refining.⁠[3][3]

In 2010, INEOS moved its headquarters from the United Kingdom to Switzerland; in 2016, INEOS moved its headquarters back to the UK.⁠[3][3]

In 2017, INEOS acquired the clothing brand Belstaff and the Swiss football club Lausanne-Sport, formed INEOS Automotive to develop a 4x4 off-road vehicle, bought the Forties Pipeline System and the Kinneil Terminal from BP, and acquired the entire oil and gas business of Dong Energy.⁠[3]

In the Queen’s Birthday Honours list published on June 9, 2018, Ratcliffe, as chairman and chief executive officer of Ineos Chemical Group, was awarded a knighthood for services to business and to investment. The same year, INEOS formed INEOS TEAM UK and invested £110 million to challenge for the America’s Cup sailing race.⁠[4][4][3]

In 2019, INEOS acquired Tour Racing Ltd from Sky and 21st Century Fox, and the former Team Sky cycling team was renamed Team INEOS; the same year it acquired the French Ligue 1 club OGC Nice, and Eliud Kipchoge became the first person to run a marathon in under two hours in the INEOS 1:59 Challenge.⁠[3][3][3]

In 2020, INEOS became principal partner of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, revealed the design of the Grenadier 4x4 off-road vehicle, and bought the Hambach production site in France from Mercedes-Benz. On December 18, 2020, the team announced that INEOS would become a one-third shareholder, with the team owned in three equal parts by Daimler, INEOS, and Toto Wolff. Ratcliffe said this was a unique opportunity to make a financial investment in a team at the very top of its game that still had rich potential to grow.⁠[3][3][3][5][5]

In 2021, INEOS donated £100 million to create a new institute at the University of Oxford to fight antimicrobial resistance.⁠[3]

On December 24, 2023, Manchester United plc announced an agreement with Trawlers Limited, wholly owned by Ratcliffe, to acquire 25% of the Class B shares from the Glazer family at $33 per share and to make a tender offer for up to 25% of the Class A shares; Ratcliffe would also provide $300 million ($200 million upon closing and a further $100 million by the end of 2024) for future investment in Old Trafford, and the entire transaction would use no debt financing.⁠[6][6][6][6][6][6]

Under the agreement, INEOS, at the board’s request, was delegated responsibility for all of the club’s football operations, including men’s and women’s football and the academies, and obtained two seats each on the boards of the listed company and the club. Describing himself as a local boy and a lifelong supporter of the club, Ratcliffe said the goal was to see Manchester United back at the very top of English, European, and world football.⁠[6][6][6][6]

On February 20, 2024, after receiving approval from the Football Association and the Premier League, the transaction closed: Trawlers accepted 13,237,834 Class A shares in the tender offer at a proration factor of approximately 26.2%, representing 25% of the outstanding Class A shares, and acquired 25% of the Class B shares; after Ratcliffe invested a further $200 million for newly issued Class A and Class B shares, he held approximately 27.7% of each of Manchester United’s Class A and Class B shares. The governance agreement took effect the same day. Ratcliffe said that becoming co-owner of Manchester United was a great honour that came with great responsibility.⁠[7][7][7][7][7][7][8][7]

In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025, Manchester United carried out an operational transformation plan that included two redundancy programs, and incurred costs related to the departure of former men’s first team manager Erik ten Hag and various football and other staff; in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2026, it incurred costs related to the departure of former men’s first team head coach Ruben Amorim. The club’s headcount fell from 1,127 at the end of June 2024 to 886 at the end of June 2025 and 805 at the end of June 2026. In the fiscal year ended June 30, 2026, Manchester United bought land and buildings off John Gilbert Way for £64 million for a proposed new stadium.⁠[9][9][9][9][9]

On December 18, 2024, INEOS took over Trawlers’ subsequent subscription obligation and subscribed for new Manchester United shares for $100 million; the same day, Trawlers transferred all of its Manchester United shares to INEOS for $1.546 billion. The change in holding structure was intended to consolidate the Manchester United shares with INEOS’s other sports investments. INEOS is co-owned by Ratcliffe, Andrew Currie, and John Reece.⁠[9][9][10][9]

On June 23, 2026, INEOS Limited was renamed INEOS Services Limited; on June 29, INEOS filed that it held 49,880,646 Manchester United ordinary shares (Class A and Class B combined), representing 28.96% of total voting power.⁠[9][9]

As of October 2026, INEOS is a multinational manufacturer of petrochemicals, specialty chemicals, and oil products, made up of 28 individual businesses operating 148 facilities in 26 countries, with annual revenue of about $50 billion and more than 23,000 employees. The group has a federal structure in which each business is managed largely autonomously by its own board of directors and reports to INEOS Capital; the “INEOS Compass,” which describes how the company operates, was devised by Ratcliffe.⁠[11][11][11][2][2][2][11]

INEOS: Official website: https://www.ineos.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[2]