Manchester United Tops $3 Billion; World’s Most Valuable Sports Franchise

A surge in the club’s shares after a poor start when they were offered on the New York Stock Exchange in August has seen the overall value of United rise to $3.3 billion.

According to Forbes, United is comfortably ahead of the world’s second-most-valuable sports team, the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, worth $2.1 billion.

The United shares were initially offered to the public at $14 and are now worth just under $17. The market cap — or the outstanding value of the team’s market share — is $2.78 billion.

The demand for shares of the 19-time English champion grew after better earnings and new sponsorship deals with Japan’s Kansai and China Construction Bank, despite a drop in first-quarter earnings because of a reduction in television revenue.

Shares of the English soccer team, which were offered to the public last August at $14, did poorly at first but have soared the past few days. Last seen at just under $17,  Manchester United’s stock has outperformed the S&P 500 since its IPO and made the controlling Glazer family and legendary investor George Soros,  who bought a big stake in the team shortly after it went public, wealthier.

The recent increase in its stock price has pushed up Manchester Untied’s enterprise value (equity plus debt) to $3.3 billion, the highest value of any team in the world. The second most valuable sports team in the world are the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, worth $2.1 billion.

2013-02-19 10:34:08

Source: http://republicanredefined.com/2013/01/29/manchester-united-tops-3-billion-worlds-most-valuable-sports-franchise/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=manchester-united-tops-3-billion-worlds-most-valuable-sports-franchise