Ronaldo factor, the stocks broke the record

It took less than three months for Juventus’s market value on the stock exchange to rise from €667 million to €1.58 billion after the arrival of the elite Portuguese star.

How big an impact will Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival at Juventus have? Can he still compete with the very best at the age of 33? Was it a risky move for the Italian club? These questions arose in early July, shortly after the five-time world player of the year unexpectedly left Real Madrid and headed for Turin. It’s still only the start of the season – but already it’s clear that Ronaldo has achieved something in football business terms that no one before him has. In less than three months, Juventus shares on the Italian stock exchange have recorded a record rise. At the end of June, their price was €0.66 per share; yesterday, it stood at €1.64. In terms of the club’s market value, this means an increase from €667 million to the current €1.65 billion. “The opportunity to acquire Ronaldo was carefully assessed to make sense both on and off the pitch,” Juventus president Andrea Agnelli told the Financial Times.

Yesterday, Ronaldo played his debut match for Juventus in the most prestigious European competition, the Champions League. It was his first appearance in Spain since leaving Madrid – away to Valencia (the match ended after our deadline). A successful run in the Champions League is the next step in boosting Juventus’s global profile. “There’s almost no doubt he will make his mark on the pitch. But how much his arrival will impact Juventus’s overall revenues is hard to estimate,” said sports analyst and football agent Jozef Tokos. According to him, the club’s management will soon be able to demand significantly higher sums from sponsors than before Ronaldo’s arrival. Moreover, before the season, Juventus raised season ticket prices by 30 percent and easily sold all 29,000-plus of them. It can be assumed that thanks to the “Ronaldo effect,” the club will secure the largest share of the revenue pool from TV rights sales, both in Serie A and the Champions League. “In the ranking of the world’s highest-earning clubs, this could catapult them very high. I estimate that in the 2018/2019 season they will record the biggest year-on-year revenue growth,” Tokos said. For reference, in the most recent Deloitte ranking, Juventus ranked 10th with an annual income of €405.7 million.

Including the transfer fee, Ronaldo’s annual salary with bonuses, and payments to his agent, the Financial Times calculated that over the four years of his contract, Juventus will invest €340 million in the player. Experts have no doubt that with the expected rise in ticket sales, TV rights income, and especially commercial contracts, this sum will certainly be recouped. “Ronaldo will elevate Juventus into the elite group of Europe’s wealthiest clubs, where they have never been before. If the management proceeds wisely, they won’t have to worry about a return on the investment,” Gareth Batch, co-founder of the marketing company Digital Sports, told ft.com. Another very important result of the “Ronaldo effect” is the immense worldwide popularity of the Portuguese national team captain. On social media, he is by far the most-followed person in the world, with more than 330 million followers. To illustrate Ronaldo’s social media power: on the very first day after his transfer, Juventus’s follower count on social networks jumped by 1.5 million.

Top earning world clubs (million euro, 2017)

1. Manchester United 676,3
2. Real Madrid 674,6
3. FC Barcelona 648,3
4. Bayern Mníchov 587,8
5. Manchester City 527,7
6. Arsenal 487,6
7. Paris St. Germain 486,2
8. Chelsea 428,0
9. Liverpool 424,2
10. Juventus Turín 405,7
Source: Deloitte