The move fully places the famed British soccer franchise into the private ownership of American businessman Malcolm Glazer and ends the club's 14-year tenure as a publicly-traded company.
Glazer, owner of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, became majority shareholder of Manchester United on May 16 in a $1.8 billion Cdn buyout.
In a June 14 statement to the London Stock Exchange, Glazer said his Red Football Ltd. company owned 97.3 per cent of Manchester United's shares and planned to take the club off the stock market by June 22.
Malcolm Glazer delisted Manchester United off the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday. (CP File Photo)
Glazer first bought stake in the club (2.3 per cent) in 2003. He slowly accumulated more shares before going on a wild share-shopping spree last fall when he upped his stake in the club to 28.11 per cent.
After a lengthy battle and two failed takeover bids, Glazer acquired a controlling stake in Manchester United last month after buying out 28.1 per cent interest from Irish racehorse owners and majority shareholders J.P. McManus and John Magnier.
He then bought out the third largest stakeholder, Scottish mining entrepreneur Harry Dobson, to take his share total to 62 per cent of the club. Just hours later, Glazer had bought a further 9.8 per cent interest taking his total ownership to 71.8 per cent.
Finally, Glazer bought enough shares to put him over the 75 per cent threshold needed for him to delist Manchester United shares from the London Stock Exchange.
In a recent report by British accounting firm Deloitte calculating revenues for the world's top soccer clubs, Man United was listed No. 1 for the 2003-04 season at $410 million Cdn.
Glazer currently ranks #278 on the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans. His net worth is $1 billion US.
Many United supporters are vehemently opposed to Glazer's purchase of the Premiership club.
Manchester fans argue that Glazer knows nothing about soccer and they believe he will raise ticket prices and sell off key players in order to pay off the huge debt he undertook when he completed the purchase of the world's richest soccer club.
Manchester United fans have held a handful of protests and rallies. Some held banners and signs objecting the Glazer purchase at last month's FA Cup final between United and Arsenal.
