Kings Owner Vivek Ranadivé Might Be Interested in Buying Chelsea FC
Learn more about Vivek Ranadivé’s net worth and career. The TIBCO Software founder and Sacramento Kings owner is contemplating a bid for Chelsea FC.
March 11 2022, Published 2:13 p.m. ET
Vivek Ranadivé
Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé seems to have big plans for his net worth. He’s reportedly readying an offer to purchase Chelsea FC.
Sportico reports that Ranadivé is putting “final touches” on a bid for the English football team, recently valued at $3.35 billion. Other interested parties include Eldridge Industries CEO Todd Boehly and New York Jets owner Woody Johnson.
If successful, Ranadivé would become the first person of Indian descent to own a top-flight English club, Sportico adds.
Vivek Ranadivé
Founder of TIBCO Software, owner and chairman of the Sacramento Kings
Net worth: $700 million (reported)
Vivek Ranadivé is a business executive who founded Teknekron Software Systems, TIBCO Software, and Bow Capital. He’s also the owner and chairman of the Sacramento Kings.
Birthdate: October 7, 1957
Birthplace: Mumbai, India
Education: B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MBA from Harvard Business School
Spouse: Deborah Addicott (m. 1979–1999)
Children: Aneel, Andre, and Anjali
That said, ESPN reports that the sale of Chelsea FC can't proceed while Roman Abramovich, the club’s current owner, is under sanctions from the U.K. government. Abramovich was sanctioned for his ties with Russia President Vladimir Putin. A U.K. government statement described him as a “prominent Russian businessman and pro-Kremlin oligarch” who has had a “close relationship” with Putin “for decades,” the magazine adds.
In any case, here’s more about Ranadivé and his career so far.
Ranadivé built his net worth from the $50 he had when he came to the U.S.
Vivek Ranadivé with Tristan Thompson in October 2021
In a 2015 Fortune essay, Ranadivé said he was “a boy from Mumbai who came to Boston as a teenager with $50 in his pocket.” After arriving in the U.S., Ranadivé attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in electrical engineering, then got his MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar.
In 1986, Ranadivé founded Teknekron Software Systems, a company that helped automate Wall Street stock trading, according to his UC Davis Leadership bio. Then, in 1997, Ranadivé founded TIBCO Software, a company specializing in infrastructure and business intelligence software, boasting a revenue run rate of more than $1 billion. In 2016, he teamed up with the University of California to launch Bow Capital.
According to Sportico, Ranadivé’s net worth is reported to be more than $700 million.
Ranadivé's group bought the Sacramento Kings for a record $534 million in 2013.
In 2013, a California-based group led by Ranadivé bought the Sacramento Kings for a total franchise valuation of $534 million, which was a record for the NBA at the time, according to Sports Illustrated.
He got into basketball when he volunteered to coach his daughter’s middle-school team—despite never having played the sport himself.
“The first day, I didn’t know what to do, and so I devised a style of play where I ended up winning every single game and taking my team to the national championship,” he told KCRA News in 2013, after he purchased the Kings. “I’m always looking forward, and right now, I’m very, very excited about the Kings and Sacramento and what we can do there,” he added.