Having come from humble beginnings, Sir Jim Ratcliffe worked hard to amass a huge fortune, with an impressive property portfolio and assets including a super yacht and a stake in his beloved Manchester United
Sir Jim Ratcliffe
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is a billionaire and one of Britain's richest men(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
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At the last count, Sir Jim Ratcliffe had amassed a fortune of around £17.046 billion. Not bad for a boy who grew up on a council estate in Greater Manchester. Today, Sir Jim's assets include his Manchester United stake, mansions in London and Hampshire, a hotel in the French Alps, and the 78m superyacht Hampshire II, but he faced a setback early on in his career when he was bizarrely fired because of his eczema.
Ratcliffe built his fortune by purchasing unwanted chemicals assets from BP and other companies, starting with a deal in 1992, and developing them into his own private firm, INEOS.
Hampshire II owned by Ineos boss Jim Ratcliffe
Among Ratcliffe's many assets is the luxury superyacht, Hampshire II(Image: Daily Record)
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His rags to riches story started in an unlikely place - on a council estate in Failsworth, Greater Manchester. As a young kid, he would gaze at the city from the outskirts and count chimneys from his bedroom window. "Being around Manchester when I was growing up, the manufacturing situation sort of seeps into your consciousness I suppose," Ratcliffe told MEN in 2015, adding that there's "a bit of the Industrial Revolution in my DNA".
Ratcliffe was born in 1952 to a joiner father and a mother who was an accounts office worker. They lived in a council house in Lancashire until he was 10, then moved to East Yorkshire when his father started running a factory making laboratory furniture.
"You should see a picture of the council house where I started out," he told the Daily Express in 2018, which is the same year he was named Britain's wealthiest man.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe before the Premier League match between Manchester City FC and Manchester United FC
From humble beginnings, Ratcliffe has become a billionaire(Image: Visionhaus/Getty Images)
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During his school days, Ratcliffe has stated he was only interested in playing football and he became an avid Manchester United supporter. (In February 2024 the lifelong fan finalised a £1.25bn deal to buy a 27.7% stake in the football club and he now owns 28.94%, having taken control of the club's football operations, while the Glazer family remains the majority owner.)
He remembers collecting frogs with pals on the way to school and paying the local blacksmith many visits to weld his 'smashed up' bike back together. "I did have this inkling that I wanted to be successful - that I wanted to be a millionaire one day," he added. "Those things were in my head but I was just dreaming, really."
The billionaire attended Beverley Grammar School and lived in Hull until the age of 18 before studying chemical engineering at Birmingham University. After graduating with a 2:1 he worked for BP during a summer holiday and was offered a full-time job.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Catherine Polli during the Emirates FA Cup Final match between Manchester City and Manchester United
He owns part of his beloved football team, Manchester United(Image: Getty Images)
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However, he was controversially fired from his first ever role after just three days because he had a mild case of eczema. Ratcliffe's boss saw his medical report and decided that he could not risk investing five years training in someone who might prove allergic to the company's products.
It was a bitter blow for Ratcliffe, but he was determined to be a success and worked as a trainee accountant at a pharmaceuticals company. Then he landed a job with Esso, who funded his MBA at London Business School, after which he worked with a chemicals manufacturer until his 30s.
In 1992, he took the risk of mortgaging his house in order to buy BP's chemicals division for around £40 million. In 1998, at the age of 45, he founded chemical giant Ineos and his business empire really started taking shape. Headquartered and registered in London, Ineos was the fourth largest chemical company in the world as of 2021 with an estimated turnover of £59.3 billion.
Ineos chairman Jim Ratcliffe (C) visits the INEOS plant in Grangemouth
Ratcliffe founded Ineos in May 1998 to acquire BP's petrochemicals assets(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
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In 2006, Ineos bought BP's refining and petrochemical arm Innovene, and now employs approximately 26,000 people globally, with 194 sites across 29 countries. They manufacture raw materials for products ranging from bottle caps and toothpaste to computers and cars.
Ratcliffe relocated Ineos' head office to Switzerland in 2010 in what was a masterstroke of financial thinking, cutting the company's tax bill by £100 million per year.
In May 2009, he was granted an honorary fellowship by the Institution of Chemical Engineers citing "his sustained leadership in building the Ineos Group and in 2013 he received the Petrochemical Heritage Award. Then, in 2018, he was awarded a knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours for his services to business and investment.
A keen outdoorsman, who has made expeditions to the North and South Poles. Sir Jim also founded the charity Go Run for Fun, which encourages children between five and 10 to get more active by arranging celebrity events.
The billionaire now lives far from his council estate life after moving to Monaco, which saved him £4billion in tax payments and led to criticism from British politicians.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Ineos CEO and minority shareholder at Manchester United, and his wife Catherine Polli attend the Gala evening at Grimaldi Forum during the Monaco National Day on November 19, 2024 in Monaco
Ratcliffe and Catherine Polli at a gala evening in Monaco in November 2024 (Image: Getty Images)
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He has two sons, George and Samuel, with first wife Amanda Towson, who he divorced in 1995 after 10 years of marriage. Ratcliffe also has a daughter with Italian tax lawyer Maria Alessia Maresca. His current partner is Catherine Polli. While she maintains a low public profile, she has appeared alongside Ratcliffe at high-profile events and appearances, including the 75th Monaco Red Cross Ball and various sporting events, including Manchester United matches.
Outside of sport, Ratcliffe owns the 78-metre long Hampshire II, as well as 50% of the Pig Hotels business group.
As well as the three family homes, he reportedly enjoys four mega-money holidays every year, owns no less than four private jets to get him there, and a fleet of cars.
His key assets also include ownership of football clubs OGC Nice and FC Lausanne-Sport, a one-third stake in the Mercedes-AMG F1 team, and extensive investments in luxury property and sailing.