Stan Kroenke now owns almost 100% of the Arsenal shares following his successful buyout of Alisher Usmanov.
The American businessman has, as well as the stake-holding of the Russian, hoovered up 1046 shares from small shareholders who either chose to sell without fuss before having their shares compulsorily purchased as per takeover rules.
Kroenke update. Now owns 98.8% of Arsenal.
1,046 shares – aside from Usmanov's stake – have been sold to Kroenke since the offer earlier this month.
He'll now compulsory buy the remaining shares to secure 100% of #afc— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) August 28, 2018
In a statement which confirms the compulsory purchase, KSE UK, INC say:
Compulsory acquisition Having received acceptances of the offer in respect of not less than 90 or cent of Arsenal Shares to which the Offer relates, KSE has exercised its rights pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 3 of Part 28 of the 2006 Act to acquire compulsorily all Arsenal Shares not assented to the Offer on the same terms as Offer. Notices in respect of the compulsory purchase acquisition sent on 13 August 2018 to all Arsenal Shareholders who had not accepted the offer.
It means that those who held out will be paid the offer price of £29,419.64 per share and Kroenke will own 100%, and Arsenal Football Club will become part of the KSE portfolio of sports franchises.
Some may think this is big business, the way of the world and of football these days, but for many owning a part of Arsenal was not about money or making profit, it was a way of feeling connected to the club.
It’s worth reading some of the responses sent to the Arsenal Supporters Trust in the wake of Usmanov’s decision to sell to Kroenke, they illustrate what it means to people to be Arsenal shareholders.
Or we should say, sadly, what it meant to be Arsenal shareholders.
Arseblog News also understands that despite KSE saying no changes would be made to the board structure following the takeover, that over the coming months the make-up of the Arsenal board will be altered significantly.
It should be expected that Josh Kroenke will become more involved, and some of the more senior members of the current board will likely be replaced by KSE appointments, while the future of Ivan Gazidis remains unclear as he continues to be courted by AC Milan.
Watch this space.
Given how tight he has been and how he sees Arsenal as a business, it can only be bad news that we’ll know little about how the club is being run, what money he is taking out.
I’d prefer us supporters to be connected than not. If we continue our recent league positions as well it isn’t good news for the future.
So the situation is for the fans to PREPARE FOR THE WORST WHILE PRAYING FOR THE BEST.
Jabbah the Hut could have sold it to some oil Sheikhs from the middle east instead of Stan. It would have been interesting.
Even the richest man in Africa is an Arsenal fan. Why not sell it to him.
And who would be willing to fork out that heap of dosh and still not have any say whatsoever on how the club is to be run?
Sometimes you feel helpless in your life and this is one of the moment.
I feel like that most of the time
To quote a certain modern-day philosopher, “the past gives you regrets, the future uncertainties so the only moment of happiness is the present”. 😉 So let’s just concentrate on being connected to the club EMOTIONALLY, build a positive environment for everyone associated with the club (that’s obv including us financially cocooned Gooners) and support the FOOTBALL TEAM when it’s on the pitch without being TOO emotionally distracted by all this backroom guff. I know it’s easier said than done but this is something worth trying IMBHO especially as each of our lives will be filled with its own trials and… Read more »
I am not quite happy with the present also..with this Kroenke and all..
I know what you mean. But like one lovely Arse had mentioned below, “FUCK KROENKE”. 😛 Let’s just focus our undivided love on what our beloved team does ON the pitch.
Fuuuuuuuuuuck……..
Sheeeeit.
FUCK KROENKE
In 2004 we were Unbeaten League Champions, I was 18 and times were good and looking bright. Living in Ireland times have been tough, and Arsenal have not helped.
Least the recession is over, with Arsenal we are unemployed for life.
Fingers crossed, eyes wide opened…..
I thought the signing of Emery is the height of new thing that will happen to Arsenal this year….
Little did I know?
Can anyone just say something positive about the future please…….
I need an encouragement right now
Probably not. It’s the beginning of the end.
😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 When a horse is already down and begging of mercy, kill that beast SLOWLY. And that too after letting it watch you murder each of its kin. SLOWLY and mercilessly too. 😛
I’m a glass half full kind of chap, so here goes.. maybe, just maybe Kroenke will have a tiny bit of pride (or indeed his up and coming son with a reputation to build) will want their new shiny Premier League ‘soccer’ team to actually win stuff and chuck a bit of money in and show some ambiton, bucking the trend of their other sporting investments..
Fanciful? Almost certainly, but you never know..
Hope that helped, you bloody legend, you can achieve all that you dream Evang. Simon. High five…?
Don’t be daft
I was being a bit daft…
?
In case you are into digging, the deeper you dig, the deeper the pit gets…
*Not positive news, unless you are really into digging, dunno maybe someone who works at a construction site
He’s a businessman and won’t want to see the club do badly. Because then he can’t sell it as he won’t make a profit. We do well and he might want to sell. The only problem is another billionaire will then take control of the club. So I’m afraid it’s all about billionaire owners in football now.
On the plus side the current board is shit so no great loss there
Exactly. I really dont see what the fuss is about. If anything i prefer him to lead than the club being victim of the tug of war between two owners. Only downside is the fans losing any voice. I am hoping they create some sort of vehicle for yhat though. Feedback and review is good for business
Kroenke couldn’t care any less about trophies, anyone expecting us to do anything but turn profits for KSE? Needs to seriously adjust their ambitions
Well, maybe! But if AFC aren’t winning, or close to winning, then the turnover drops (as can be seen in the last year or 2)!
Thing is, despite our relatively poor showing over the last couple years we’re still the 5/6th richest club in the world, and that top 20 is dominated by Premier League sides due to TV money. Arsenal are a cash cow on prime London real estate, in relative terms the club doesn’t even have to be as successful as it is on the pitch at the moment for it to be a valuable asset for KSE.
Didn’t see any ambition when KSE is owning 50%. Let alone almost 100%.
bummer (not an accusation)
🙁
To Stan Arsenal is a money train as he has never put his own money into it. He has no accountability to anyone now. SMH
He did put a substantial sum of money to buy the shares off of Usmanov to be fair. He wouldn’t want to see his ‘investment’ devalue being a business man. Besides it wasn’t as if with Usmanov, we were any more ambitious since his stake was largely non consequential. There’s 300m being renegotiated with Adidas likely coming in to replace Puma. I don’t think we have been as ambitious in market as we could have (particularly with Cback this summer and lack of a winger) We can only wait to see what course he takes. Currently we are in danger… Read more »
To play devils advocate – If you owned 70% of a football company and someone owned 30% and was trying to buy your stare and wrestle it away from you, you wouldnt invest in say Mbappe whatever the cost and pay 100% of it when the person owning 30% of the shares isnt putting his own money in or paying 30% of Mbappes price but gets a better share price and sees benefit from your money for free. Maybe now Kroenke owns 100% whatever he invests he will see the returns 100% and wouldnt mind paying out of his own… Read more »
True…there is more certainty now.
If he should want to sell the club on, it would be worth more.
Thereby he would likely want to keep the value of the club and make sure it does not devalue.
So long as we are buying with sufficient firepower to stay within CL, we give ourselves a shot at the title.
What we are doing now in market to me is barely making Europa.
We need to reduce risk for Emery and make sure he has the strongest weapons we can afford in the armoury.
The only positive in this is that Piers Morgan won’t be a shareholder anymore.
Wow, that indeed is a huge positive. This is actually the most (and only?) comforting thing about this whole situation. Well, not the only thing. I have to say that, although it probably would have been better if Usmanov didn’t sell his shares, you can’t overlook that it’s a positive that he’s not involved with Arsenal anymore. The enourmous cunt.
i think it was only a matter of time before Usinov sold out, not having a voice or sway into the way the club operates he got fed up and took the money and ran. worse senario he could plough his money into his mates club Everton then they would become another mighty club with big spending power leaving us with more scraps to forage. after the high of the summer and Emery’s appointment it was saddened by the saga of Kronke becoming out right owner the timing was so bad it deflated the high hopes for fans. theres always… Read more »
That’s the thing, it wasn’t exactly as if with Usmanov onboard, we had much say anyway. So much of it is business as usual. Worse that could happen would be we falter and do not get into CL for 2 more seasons (which would be terrible), he tires of the whole ‘soccer’ thing and decides to sell. But then we may be at the mercy of some oligarch. Best model we should try is move closer toward the Bayern one but shares are so exorbitantly price now I wonder if it could be done at this late stage of the… Read more »
I think the first thing he must do now is get the team into CL footbal again. Along with PL it’s a good chunk of money he can suck out of the club. So he’ll probably invest enough for 4th place, group stages in CL, and that’s about it. Fucked up times lads… For 24 years I have loved this club with all my heart and will continue to do so, but this? This is like some fucked up third world contry dicatorship, this is!! Just like the one I’ve lived in whole my life, sadly… 🙁
These days, invest enough for fourth place will give you a shot at the title (Remember Leicester won it with far less) BUT we have not been spending enough to bring in the grade of players that will reduce the risk for Emery. We neglected to get a better Cback, and a good winger. With 300m being renegotiated with kit sponsor (either Adidas or Puma…hope its Adidas), there isn’t much excuse for him not to at least bring in a good winger this January. But there’s even less check and balance now (not that Usmanov had much say) so who… Read more »
This mann.a. is the cancer in this club.
Now privately owned in the US by a guy who has a big game hunting TV channel. Jesus f****** christ. Incredibly depressing.
Clearly he’s into guns at least
Someone please remind him he needs to buy BIG guns for the gunners.
Not to mention his Napa Valley winery that sells $7,000 bottles of wine.
We’re heading for turbulent times now. Let’s face it: this buyout doesn’t actually mean much. Stan already had complete control of the club. But, as I’ve said before, the attitude of true Arsenal fans has changed. My guess is that Stan sees the club as simply a cash cow that will keep providing him with money to fund the rest of his business empire. He’s wrong. The events of last season were a watershed. Arsenal fans demonstrated with their feet that they were not interested in watching mediocre teams struggling for fourth each season. We wanted more. The problem is… Read more »
its true what you say, but soon we could be finishing as low as NINTH, what with teams like Fulham and wolves spending power
Absolutely. Stan just doesn’t get it: we are a massive club that has to be properly funded. And we have to show ambition to be the best.
Why is everyone fretting? In this age of social media, there is no way any capitalist will be sheltered from general public sentiment. And based on this money man’s history, he is ATLEAST a sports aficionado. So things will EVENTUALLY become good for our club ON and OFF the pitch, yeah? 😀 #positive_pragmatism
Kroenke knows that if the teams is not competitive and continues the decline we have entered over the last few years , his “investment” will suffer. i’m not saying he will throw billions of his own money in to the club and i’m sure he wants the club to be self sustained , which is the only real way we can run , given ffp. However, i don’t think he will use the club as a cash machine. Its in everyone’s interest that the club is relatively competitive , as sponsors do not like empty stadiums on TV!
Maybe his son will run Arsenal Fc and if he’s a true fan and businessman he’ll spend his dads money on trying to better the club. FINGERS CROSSED
Let’s hope that there will be no such thing like North London Derby to be played at US like what happening in La Liga
Stan can kiss 100% of my arse
Almost 100%. Leave the other few percents for piers Morgan
😀 😀 😀 😀 Arses (you fellows, NOT our posterior :P) for the mofu’ win!
FUCK KROENKE
Can someone please explain how Kroenke can “force” shareholders to sell?
I mean, he can’t go private unless everybody is on board? Ive seen articles where minor shareholders are concerned and sorry about the clubs future as if it’s not their own decision to sell or not. What am I missing?
Sorry about the last post. Didn’t read the article. Was just expecting the same information without explanation. You rock tho
shit
Oh shit.
Possibly the worst thing to happen to the arsenal ever!!! I was always lead to believe the hill wood family understood what being arsenal ment, but they sold us out!
Arsenal has been followed by family’s name since they was in south London many many years ago!! It will never be the same again!!