Manchester United has become the latest publicly traded company to find itself the subject of an enigmatic Elon Musk tweet.
Late Tuesday, following a post about US politics, Musk tweeted: “Also, I’m buying Manchester United ur welcome”.
The Tesla chief executive did not respond to an email seeking clarity on the comment.
Some of the billionaire’s 103mn followers on Twitter had been egging him on to buy the football club, which is languishing at the bottom of the English Premier League having suffered its worst start to a season for a century.
Much of the frustration over the club’s performance in recent years, particularly since the departure of beloved manager Sir Alex Ferguson, has been directed at the Glazer family, which has controlled the club since a £790mn leveraged buyout in 2005.
Musk’s tweet came after the day’s trading on the New York Stock Exchange, where Manchester United’s market capitalization was $2.08bn at close, down 24 percent over the past 12 months.
The team has not won a title since 2013. In January, the club’s revenues were overtaken by those of local rivals Manchester City for the first time, according to consultants KPMG.
The FT was unable to reach the Glazer family on Tuesday evening. Manchester United did not respond to a request for comment.
Previously, Musk has been censured by the Securities and Exchange Commission over a tweet making the incorrect claim that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private.
More recently, Musk’s tweets suggesting he would make a bid to buy Twitter itself did come to fruition with a serious move, but he is now seeking to back out of the $44bn deal.