As with Malcolm Glazer's acquisition of Manchester United, only time will tell whether Stan Kroenke's takeover is good for Arsenal. But until that time it's probably best you know as much about the man as is humanly possible...
Born in Columbia, Missouri in 1947, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Missouri. Busy boy.
He's worth almost £1.8bn, making him worth a little more than Malcolm Glazer.
He made his substantial fortune mainly through real estate and constructing shopping centres, retail, business and residential developments.
He's married to Ann Walton, part of the family which owns the Wal-Mart chain of shops. She's richer than him. Wonder who pays for meals out.
He's had more than a smidgen of sport team ownership experience. In the US he's the majority owner of the St Louis Rams NFL franchise and through his company he owns the Colorado Rapids Major League Soccer team, the Colorado Avalanche NHL side and the NBA basketball team the Denver Nuggets.
Kroenke is a somewhat reclusive man who stays out of the limelight. He is known as "Silent Stan" because he almost never gives interviews to the press and rarely interferes in his teams' day-to-day operations.
The New York Times said, “Though some Arsenal fans worry a new owner will saddle the club with debt and curb the signing of players, that has not been Mr. Kroenke’s style.” Whatever his method is, Kroenke is not a man whose name has been associated with greed.
Speaking to the Leaders in Football conference, Ivan Gazidis described his business model as diversified sports entertainment ownership, “Look at Stan Kroenke in the Denver market. He not only owns sports teams, he owns stadiums and the TV station that distributes the sport on local TV. He aggregates content and he distributes it.” He even owns the in-house ticketing system named TicketHorse.
Kroenke is famous for maximizing the potential of his sporting venues. Some are even suggesting that he might place a roof on the Emirates stadium to make it more appealing for concerts.
Kroenke is the only overseas investor in English football who has also invested in football in his home market. He invested $70m in a new 18,000 stadium for the Colorado Rapids and surrounded it with 24 youth soccer pitches – the largest complex of its kind in America.
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