Reds’ stock market value plummets by $1bn,
UNITED have seen their value fall by more than $1bn as a result of the US stock market crash in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The shares were individually valued at around $20 earlier this year, but are now down to $13 as the Stock Exchange struggles in the wake of the huge economic impact bought by the crisis around the world.
But the drop in value of United’s share price will have little to no impact on the club on a day-to-day level, according to football finance expert Kieran Maguire, unless the club was to try and raise short-term cash for an expenditure project such as redevelopment work on Old Trafford.
Maguire, a University of Liverpool lecturer and author of The Price of Football: The Finance and Economics of the Beautiful Game, said the fall in value of United showed ‘there’s good things and bad things about having your shares listed in New York’.
“These are shares already owned by random shareholders, by hedge funds and private individuals, so it has no impact on Manchester United until the club wants to raise more money,” said Maguire.
“Let’s say it wants to do some redevelopment at Old Trafford or extend the training ground and if it wants cash it’s going to make it that tougher, because instead of getting $19 or $20 a share, it’s now $13 or $14 a share. Until there is a big capital expenditure project at Old Trafford I don’t see any problems for the club. I think it was noticeable last Thursday that the Glazers filed that the club itself would try and support the share price, they were trying to set aside up to $35m to buy back shares from the market to prop up the share price.”