Elite-level football teams are often owned by millionaires and billionaires, with many of them becoming household names among fans of the sport.
In early 2022, amid the uncertainty surrounding Roman Abramovich’s ownership of Premier League club Chelsea, an abundantly wealthy individual named Hansjorg Wyss revealed that he, along with three others, had been offered the chance to buy the Stamford Bridge outfit.
He is certainly interested, so who is Wyss, how much is he worth and how did he make his money? GOAL brings you everything you need to know.
Who is Hansjorg Wyss?
Hansjorg Wyss is a billionaire businessman from Switzerland.
Born on September 19, 1935 in the Swiss capital Bern, Wyss made his fortune through Synthes, a company he founded in the 1970s which manufactures medical devices.
Educated at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich in the late 1950s, he later studied in the United States at Harvard Business School as he sought to develop his career. He has been based in the U.S. since the 1960s.
As well as medical manufacturing, Wyss’ career has also seen him work in government infrastructure services, the steel industry and he has also sold aircraft.
Wyss, who celebrated his 86th birthday in 2021, sold Synthes to pharmaceutical multinational Johnson and Johnson in 2012 for a fee reported to be in the region of $20 billion (£15bn).
What did Hansjorg Wyss say about Chelsea?
In a March 2022 interview with Swiss newspaper Blick, Wyss explained: “Abramovich is trying to sell all his villas in England. He also wants to get rid of Chelsea quickly. I and three other people received an offer on Tuesday to buy Chelsea from Abramovich.
“I have to wait four to five days now. Abramovich is currently asking far too much. You know, Chelsea owe him £2 billion. But Chelsea has no money.
“As of today, we don’t know the exact selling price. I can well imagine starting at Chelsea with partners. But I have to examine the general conditions first.
“What I can already say: I’m definitely not doing something like this alone. If I buy Chelsea, then it would be with a consortium consisting of six to seven investors.”
What is Hansjorg Wyss’ net worth?
Wyss’ net worth was estimated at $5.1 billion (£3.8bn) in 2022, according to American business magazine Forbes.
His wealth came primarily from the operation of Synthes and it was significantly boosted when he sold that company.
What charity work does Hansjorg Wyss do?
As well as medical device manufacturing, Wyss is known for his philanthropy and has donated money to a variety of causes, including climate initiatives, education and conservation efforts.
The Wyss Foundation was established in 1998 as an environmental protection project, designed to preserve, in particular, Wyoming’s Hoback Basin area so that people could continue to enjoy outdoor pursuits, such as hiking and fishing, there.
In 2008, he donated $125 million to Harvard for the establishment of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.
Forbes describes him as “one of the most philanthropic people in the world” and, in 2018, he committed to investing $1 billion over 10 years in order to “accelerate land and ocean conservation efforts” across the world.