British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe has reportedly watched his net worth fall by an estimated 28% in the space of a year as the Ineos founder fought declines in both the chemicals industry and at his newly acquired football club, Manchester United.
Ratcliffe is now worth £17.05 billion ($22.7 billion) after seeing £6.5 billion ($8.7 billion) shaved off his fortune last year, according to the 2025 edition of the Sunday Times Rich List.
The British billionaire has fallen from fourth to seventh on this year’s edition of the list, ceding his previous spot to Sir James Dyson. Ratcliffe is reportedly poorer as his petrochemical business took a battering, while he found little solace away from the business world as his Manchester United pet project fell deeper into crisis.
As the head of several private companies making up the Ineos conglomerate, Ratcliffe’s net worth is hard to track. Bloomberg, through its billionaires index, estimates Ratcliffe’s fortune at $7 billion less than the Times’s calculation.
The Times noted that Ineos Group Holdings SA posted losses of £124.4 million in the time since last year’s rich list was calculated, while it also faced a growing debt burden.
Collectively, other Ineos execs on the list, which also include directors Andy Currie and John Reece, lost an estimated £10.3 billion ($13.7 billion) in the last year.
A representative for Ineos didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ineos’s lobbying has intensified in the last year, perhaps reflecting a distressed balance sheet. The petrochemicals giant has been critical of the U.K. and European governments.
In February, Ratcliffe penned an open letter to European politicians warning the region’s chemicals industry was facing “extinction” owing to carbon tax bills he said dwarfed those in the U.S.
In late March, as U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled plans for extensive tariffs against the country’s traditional allies—Ineos’s carmaking arm, Ineos Automotives, chose to publicly blame the EU for the outcome.
“President Trump has been very clear on his intention to implement tariffs on the auto industry. He has been asking for fairness and reciprocity and yet European leaders have not come to the table to negotiate a better solution,” the carmaker said in a statement.
Ineos is vulnerable to import tariffs on products it sends to the U.S. The company has invested $3 billion in the country, whose fossil fuels industry has received a boost from the election of Trump.
In January, ratings agency Moody’s reaffirmed its negative outlook against the company owing to questions over the sustainability of a market recovery.
Ratcliffe can’t find solace away from Ineos
Last year, Ratcliffe indulged further in his personal passions as he dived deeper into a turnaround mission at Manchester United, the football club he acquired a minority stake in in early 2024. On the pitch, the club has experienced a similar decline to Ineos since Ratcliffe took control. The club currently sits 16th in the Premier League and is set for its worst points tally since the league was created more than 30 years ago.
The minority owner has faced criticism for unpopular financial decisions at United, including canceling Christmas parties and reducing seasonal bonuses, while hiking ticket prices and removing concessions. Ratcliffe’s most significant move has been to lay off nearly 40% of the club’s workforce to help balance the books.
Ratcliffe and Ineos have torpedoed other sporting relationships in the last year. The group settled a legal dispute with the New Zealand rugby team after the All Blacks accused Ineos of pulling out of the deal three years early.
Ineos said it sought to renegotiate the All Blacks deal because its European trading conditions had been “severely impacted by high energy costs and extreme carbon taxes.”
