Shares of Manchester United kicked off life as a newly public company on Friday by rising slightly above their initial public offering price, at $14.05.
One of the world's most popular sports franchises, Manchester United priced its initial public offering on Thursday night at $14, below its expected price range. The offering valued the club at about $2.3 billion.
By going public - while remaining firmly under the control of its majority owner, the Glazer family - Manchester United is hoping to challenge the history of sports teams that trade on stock exchanges. Namely, that such stocks are losers.
The Boston Celtics went public in 1986 and the Cleveland Indians in 1998. But the stocks struggled, and both were taken private in the last decade. And many English Premier League soccer clubs were publicly traded at one point or another, and performed miserably.
Through its stock sale, Manchester United raised money to pay off some of the debt it incurr ed when Malcolm Glazer bought the club in 2005. The Glazers are also selling some shares in the offering.
