Cristiano Ronaldo wants to buy a Portuguese media group after having been in conflict with it

2023-06-30 23:24:07

This is information that may seem very surprising. Cristiano Ronaldo, in fact, plans to invest in the Cofina group, leader in the media sector in Portugal, as announced by its general manager, Luis Santana. The fivefold Ballon d’Or has long been in conflict with the media of this group.

Head of the group, the popular daily Correio da Manha has been criticized several times by Cristiano Ronaldo, who notably accused him of “constantly inventing information and controversies” embarrassing for him or for the Portugal team.

In 2014, the footballer won a lawsuit against the newspaper for invasion of privacy. He also repeatedly refused to answer questions from journalists from the Cofina group’s television, CMTV. Before Euro 2016, he even grabbed the microphone of a CMTV reporter to throw it into a small lake.

“The best player in the world is very enthusiastic about investing in the media”

All that now seems to be forgotten… “Counting on Cristiano Ronaldo as an investor is naturally a source of great satisfaction,” Cofina CEO Luis Santana told the Lusa press agency. The entry of the footballer into the capital of the group would take place within the framework of a “Management Buy-Out (MBO)”, a takeover of the company by its managers which will be “soon presented to the shareholders”, he said. He specifies. “The best player in the world is very enthusiastic about the idea of ​​investing in the media of his country in a leading project”, explained a source close to the player quoted by the economic daily Jornal de Negocios.

Decked out by Forbes magazine as the richest sportsman of all time, the Al-Nassr striker could become Cofina’s largest shareholder, with a 30% stake worth an estimated 70 million euros.

The Cofina group, which also controls the business daily Jornal de Negocios, the newsmagazine Sabado and the sports newspaper Record, generated a profit of 10.4 million euros last year, up 147% over one year. with a turnover of just over 76 million euros. The 38-year-old striker had already invested in the Portuguese hotel group Pestana to operate hotels under the “CR7” brand.