Alibaba's Jack Ma could buy AC Milan from Silvio Berlusconi

28.04.2016 [17:37]
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Baku, April 28, AZERTAC

Jack Ma, owner of the retail giant Alibaba and China's second richest man is set to buy Italian football team AC Milan, according to the sports publication La Repubblica.

Fininvest — a holding company owned by ex-Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi — currently has a 99% stake in the club.

Ma and co-investors would purchase 70% of Fininvest's shares straight away, La Repubblica says, then buy the remaining 30% "within a year."

Ma, worth $23 billion (£15.8 billion) according to Forbes, also owns a 40% stake in Chinese football team Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao.

It's the first club in China's history to win AFC Champions League twice — in 2013 and 2015.

AC Milan finished outside the top 10 of the Deloitte Money League rich-list for the second time in the 2014/15 season, with revenues of €199.1 million — one of the only major clubs to have a revenue decline that year. This was partly down to not qualifying for any European competitions last year, with TV and attendance revenue falling as a result.

Alibaba did not give confirmation of the takeover at the time of publication, but Business Insider will update the story as it develops.

Alibaba's Jack Ma could buy AC Milan from Silvio Berlusconi

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