Understanding a little more about what is going on

I have been doing a lot of research into our owner. He is reported to be worth 1.2 billion (personally). That is one thousand two hundred million, so he makes a Euro millions winner look like a pesent.

He made most of his money from Lone Star Funds a private equity firm, now while he is officially retired from that firm (he does still sit on the board) as far as his position goes I am fairly sure he has some shares in the company and this is where it gets interesting. Lone Star has just sold its stake in the South Korean bank, Its stake was 2.9 billion dollars but this has estimated to have doubled in the last year. (a sensible time to sell)

I am willing to bet Short has had a nice dividend from thissale. In fact after doing my research I am willing to bet he is worth a lot more than 1.2billion because Lone Star and Short definitely know how to work the tax system and in 2003 he almost fell foul to it as an arrest warrant was issued for him by the South Korean government. (This was subsiquently dropped)

I am willing to bet there are 2 main reasons Short has taken over as Chairman.

Reason 1: He now has even more money to play with and he is bored. He has given up his job with Lone Star and now they have sold their stake in the South Korean Bank he does not have as much to occupy his time (he was Lone Stars man in south Korea and they are no longer operating there). He wants to be more involved in how his money is spent with SAFC.

Reason 2: The financial fair play rules are coming in. If there is anyone how knows how to get round them, manipulate them to SAFCs advantage its is Short, you only need to look at what he did in Korea with the tax rules to see he will love the challenge of this. In this respect he is a far better man to deal with the situation than Quinny.

Bruce will not matter so much to Short, its quite simple that if Bruce does not get the results Short will get rid, but he will do it based on business decisions not necessarily footballing ones. Bruce will seal his fate if it does look like there is a real chance we will be relegated. I believe Short will assess the situation closer to January. Then he will decide who he is going to give the money to, Bruce? or a new manager.

Its important to understand why things happen in the background, I think this has been on the cards for a while and its not a knee jerk reaction to what's happening on thee pitch. Short will have been involved in the deal to sell Lone Stars stake in the South Korean bank. While he was busy with that Quinn stayed on as chairman but Short kept a tight ship as far as money goes until the deal was done. Now the deal is concluded he takes over as Chairman because he has the time to do the job. I think this has always been the plan Bruce's job has nothing to do with it.

Short has always made money, he will be looking to do the same with Sunderland, he has invested large amounts in the past in his business dealings so it looks good that he could make some big investments again.

Personally I think thee future is bright.

 

Who knows mate: you could be right or you could be wrong;time will tell I suppose. But what ever happens, I will still be there supporting our team at the end of it...

 

an awesome piece of investigation Vegas. Well done.
I hope your'e right about the future because all I've ever known is suffering interspersed with the odd mirage of success.

 

read my mind

 

This ^^^^^

 

Be interesting to see if he stays with Bruce or offers a better manager money in January to come on board now.

 

Good stuff, Vegas. Thanks.

 

How long did it take for the charges to be dropped? years i think...

Rotund Mike is worth more i think, and doesn't spend big. (well not on the club)

but we'll see if he sticks with us, or is just trying to flog us on for a profit..

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_football_club_owners

 

Rotund mike is not even at the races as far as Short is concerned

 

Interesting stuff, how much Short is worth, £1.2b or more is relevant because it gives an indication of how much money he is willing to spend on the club i.e. how much is £50m a big chunk or chickenfeed, also if he is now retired from 'business' as such he may well be interested in a new role/job.

I have to also say as much as I love SNQ I wonder how well we were performing in buying and selling players, Quinn and SB are footballers not high finance wheelers and dealers and we have been beefing that area of expertise up for a while now. It may of course indicate that Short intends to sell Sunderland on? although I would have thought he would have kept Quinn at the helm if that is his intention.
It is also likely that unless we go on a winning run SBs days are numbered, we need to spend in the Jab window and it would be foolish to give SB the cash if we continue in this vein.
As always life at Sunderland is never dull.

 

Correct Mr RAW

 

According the the official figures Fat Mike is indeed much richer but someones worth does not always indicate how much money they have available. Ashleys worth will comprise of property (for his stores) and then also his stock (the things he owns) and what his shares in sports direct are worth. Short is essentially retired although I assume he still does have shares in Lone Star Funds. This could mean that Short has plenty of liquid funds to invest now. I have been lucky enough to do business in the past with some very rich people and I know for a fact that most of them don't have massive liquid funds available because they invest their money so its working for them to make even more. They generally have tens of millions for their lifestyle but the rest is taken up in investments like shares and property. Tens of millions is fine if you want to go on holiday, buy big houses, cars and even yachts, but it does not go very far when you buying players or running a football club.

I suspect Short has some more liquid assets now which is why he is taking on the chairman's role. I also suspect he is bored. Quinn on the other hand is probably sick of the day to day and wants to see his family more as well as go and see the world. He did say 5 years ago he would take on the chairmans role for 5 years.

As I said earlier this big business decision has little to do with Bruce, if he start to perform Short will invest in him, if he does not then he will go. I don't think the 2 things are related.

 

A look at the rich list is a good indication of a persons personal wealth. You will find Ellis Short is way ahead of Mike Ashley in the list. A footnote to this is Abramovich at Chelsea is being sued for £3.2 bn

 

In the last Times rich list Ashley was above Short but I think that's because they included all the assets of sports direct in the figures.

It matters little, both has silly amounts of money, what really matters for us is how much Short is willing to invest. What we have to realise is its not like one of us who would put millions in. He will be looking at what he can get out at the other end.

 

Nuts to the team can he lend ME SOME CASH??????

 

Puts it into context, Duncan Banatynne is the richest dragon on Dragons Den and Short is more than 5 times richer than him.

I am sure he could spare you a few quid.

 

We could have Warren Buffet and it still wouldnt matter though, you can only spend what you earn in turnover, unless they donate to the club which = no getting it back, even interest free loans count in the fair play rules.

 

Private Equity Firms make their money by buying a company which could and should 'do better'.
They engage in good housekeeping to remove excess fat, put in some added value, then move on with a fair return usualyl 4 to 5 years after takeover.

We have a couple of years yet before ES moves on.
Let's hope meantime that he engages in some 'investment'.
Of course Quinn's role will add to the club's world wide profile, with the intention of course of generating more revenue to enable the club to pay its way.
I don't think for one moment that ES will splash his own cash recklessly

 

These fair play rules confuse me and my limited business knowledge.

I might sound stupid here but is there anything to stop the club pricing a keyring in the club shop at £100 million. Obviously nobody would do it but it may be a mechanism for a billionaire to pump the money in through the legitimate sale of goods through the shop.

I suppose there are other considerations as this would attract VAT but I am sure there must be ways around it!