- Ronaldo amassed a huge fortune during his legendary soccer career
- Portugal's Al Nasr star steadily grew a huge business empire
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Cristiano Ronaldo amassed a fortune during a legendary playing career that included spells at Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus, and currently plays in Saudi Arabia with Al Nasr.
Ronaldo's decision to move to a Saudi Professional League club at the start of 2023 has reportedly increased his income even further, with him earning a staggering £173 million a year.
The 38-year-old is known for diversifying his income with several business investments, resulting in a vast portfolio.
Ronaldo's business interests seem to only increase as he enters the twilight of his playing career, and the Portuguese legend will likely have his hands full when he finally decides to retire.
His latest investment came last month when Ronaldo was among a group of investors who bought Portuguese media company Cofina.
Ronaldo was one of 11 investors named in the deal, which saw Cofina sold to Expressao Libre II, with a deal reportedly valued at an estimated €56.8m (about £49.4m). ing.
Portugal's major media outlets include the country's most widely circulated newspaper, Correio da Manha, which sells around 110,000 copies per day.
The sports daily “Record'', the free newspaper “Destac'' and the business newspaper “Jornal de Negocios'' are also published by Cofina, and the company owns the television channel “cmTV'' and a range of magazines.
Ronaldo's latest venture was welcomed by Luis Santana, chief executive of Cofina Media, who was among the investors in the management buyout.
“It is of course a great satisfaction for the team to be able to count on Cristiano Ronaldo as an investor, the greatest footballer of all time and an outstanding athlete who shares our values of demands, rigor, hard work and resilience. Santana said earlier this year.
According to reports in Portugal, Ronaldo will hold 20-30% of the company's shares.
Ronaldo's involvement may have raised eyebrows given his past clashes with media outlets affiliated with Cofina, with Spanish newspaper As reporting that Ronaldo had previously sued Cofina on 11 occasions.
On one such occasion, he took Coffina to court for alleged invasion of privacy following a story about the birth of his first son.
Ronaldo also refused to answer questions at a press conference in 2014, enraged by Correio da Manha's suggestion that he was a negative influence on the Portuguese national team.
“I don't respect that newspaper because it's always making up news, making up controversies, making up bad relations and bad atmosphere around the national team,” Ronaldo said.
“It's been going on since I joined the national team and I'm always attacking the national team.”
In another famous incident, Ronaldo threw a CMTV reporter's microphone into a lake after he reacted badly to a question during Euro 2016.
If the five-time Ballon d'Or winner's investments had not shown that such conflicts were a thing of the past, his decision to give every employee an extra €1,250 would have been enough. is.
As reported by Okdiario, a company-wide email said the move was “to show our gratitude to everyone who is part of this great company and who sweats the sweat on our shirts every day to do so.” It was written that there was.
This is not Ronaldo's first foray into the media world, after he acquired a majority stake in digital agency Sing Pink in 2017, which he quickly rebranded as 7EGEND.
The company says it is focused on delivering strategies, products and solutions in the sports industry. Europe's major clubs Porto and Valencia are among his 7EGEND clients along with the Portuguese Football Federation.
7EGEND also manages Ronaldo's platform CR7 Fitness Crunch, which claims to connect sports, fitness and health, and supports his own chain of gyms.
Another of Ronaldo's businesses has come under intense scrutiny in recent months. The hair transplant clinic Insparilla Medical Clinic, which he co-owns, is reportedly under investigation by the Spanish Tax Agency.
According to reports in Spain, a file has been opened against a hair transplant clinic after it issued multiple invoices without VAT to hundreds of customers between 2019 and 2021.
The company argues that because alopecia is a “disease,” “medical services such as diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and cure” are exempt from value-added tax.
However, Spain's Ministry of Finance reportedly insists that because the transplant is for “purely aesthetic purposes”, its price must include VAT, which is currently 21% in Spain. It is reported that he is doing so.
The tax agency also asked the company to justify various expenses deducted in connection with hotels, meals and travel, as well as invoices excluding VAT.
The clinic has turned over responsibility for the process to its lawyers, but insists it complied with all laws and regulations.
Insparya has a total of 12 clinics in Spain, including in Barcelona and Madrid, as well as clinics in Portugal and Milan.
Ronaldo also started doing business with Madeira-based Pestana Group in 2015. Pestana Group is owned by billionaire Dionisio Pestana and was founded by his father Manuel.
The tourism and leisure group, which had a string of hotels across Portugal, opened a chain under the CR7 brand in a 50-50 partnership with Ronaldo.
Five CR7 Hotels have been established to date, including two in Portugal, in Lisbon and Funchal, and the chain also includes hotels in New York's Times Square, Madrid and Marrakech.
“The first Pestana CR7 had to be Funchal. My city is also considered the best island in the World Travel Awards,” Ronaldo said at the launch of the first hotel in 2016.
“Opening my first hotel is a matter of great pride for me. It is my gateway to a completely new territory. This new project will be a huge success in the four corners of the world.”
Naturally, boutique hotels promise luxury, and Funchal Hotel claims that its guests will enjoy the lifestyle they deserve.
The hotel features a pink infinity pool, gym, sauna and outdoor hot tub, and guests receive free entry to the Cristiano Ronaldo Museum. It is also claimed that Ronaldo organized training sessions at the hotel's outdoor gym.
Unsurprisingly, sport is a key theme at each CR7 hotel, while the New York rooms are influenced by Portuguese color and art.
email online It was revealed earlier this year that Paris' sixth hotel is set to open in 2027 after delays.
The £53 million four-star hotel, located on the left bank of the Seine near Austerlitz train station, was originally scheduled to open in 2021.
Construction work on the hotel, which began late this year, will feature 210 rooms, a rooftop bar and a pool with panoramic views of the French capital.
“It makes perfect sense to bring the Pestana CR7 brand to Paris, one of the most visited cities in the world,” Ronaldo said at the hotel's announcement.
“It is a destination that perfectly matches the elegance and sophistication of the brand.”
The hotel business builds on his existing property empire, with the football legend building a £17 million home on the Portuguese Riviera. This house is located on a large plot of land in Quinta da Marinha, Cascais, on the west coast of Portugal.
His real estate empire also includes a seven-story apartment building in Funchal, where his mother Dolores, 66, and brother Hugo live.
He also owns a villa in Turin, a £4.8 million mansion in a gated fortress called La Finca near Madrid, and a stunning villa in Marbella.
In 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, Ronaldo also splurged on the most expensive apartment ever sold in Lisbon, paying £6.5 million for a state-of-the-art 3,100 sq ft pad on Calle Liberdade.
His extensive CR7 lifestyle brand also includes CR7 Eyewear, CR7 Footwear, CR7 Underwear and CR7 Fragrance. The brand was reportedly unaffected by the decision to close its CR7 store in Madeira late last year.
Ronaldo also boasts a lifetime contract with US sportswear giant Nike, one of only three athletes to have had that privilege.
Given Ronaldo's legendary status, Ronaldo's profile will likely remain attractive to companies long into his eventual retirement, and the star is already well-liked. Major brands such as Armani, Clear, Castrol, Tag Heuer, Egyptian Steel, Herbalife, Italia Independent, PokerStars and more.
Recent partnerships include LiveScore, MEO, ZujuGP, Uniecampus, and Therabody.
Ronaldo's remuneration this year is estimated at $260m (£208m), according to Forbes, and it seems unlikely that his business investments will stop anytime soon.
