In the last hour it’s been reported that Arsenal and majority shareholder Stan Kroenke have effectively rejected an offer from Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov.
The BBC report that Usmanov has made a £1billion offer to take control of the club from Kroenke but our majority shareholder has shown no interest, so the bid has been effectively rejected even though Usmanov is yet to receive written confirmation of that.
The BBC reference a Financial Times report which is behind a firewell with stated that the offer was received last month, but that there has so far been no formal reply to the offer.
With Kroenke being our majority shareholder, Usmanov does hold 30% of our shares but is not part of the board or our decision making process.
Speaking last April they have him saying that Kroenke should ‘bear huge responsibility’ for our failures on the pitch this season and you would imagine the life of this story in particular may get a second wind should Arsenal not secure Champions League football this weekend.
We need a victory and we need Liverpool to slip up as we sit a point behind them in the table.
With Arsene Wenger in charge since 1996, off pitch protests this weekend will decide if we miss out on qualification for the first time in 21 years and it’s already been announced that he will make his decision following May 27’s FA Cup Final tie against Chelsea and the board meeting set for after that game will decide his fate.
