Manchester United are currently in the midst of a negative media storm which was created following Cristiano Ronaldo’s incendiary interview with controversial host Piers Morgan.
Despite impressive on-field performances, the Portuguese’s comments on the club, the owners and the new manager Erik ten Hag has taken everyone by surprise due to the timing of it all.
It is pretty evident that Ronaldo’s story at United is almost at an end and even more bad news could be on the way.
Sponsorship woes
Current shirt sponsors TeamViewer are being pressurised to break off their multi-million deal with the club as early as possible.
According to Bloomberg, “Activist fund Petrus Advisers is pressuring TeamViewer AG executives to end the group’s frequently criticized sponsorship deals with football club Manchester United and the Mercedes Formula 1 racing team.”
In a letter addressed to the German IT services company’s CEO Oliver Steil and finance chief Michael Wilkins, Petrus called the sponsorship deals a sign of hubris and “appalling judgment”.
🚨 💰| New:
Petrus Advisers, who owns just under 3% of Teamviewer, is pressuring the company to end their sponsorship deals with Manchester United and Formula 1 team Mercedes. #MUFC
[@BloombergUK via @UtdPlug]
— UtdActive 🔴 (@UtdActive) November 17, 2022
TeamViewer reportedly pay the Red Devils £47.5 million ($57 million) annually with their contract running until 2026.
It has already been previously reported that the company will not be renewing their deal with the English giants beyond the stipulated date.
There were also rumours that the remote working software business would try and amend the existing contract to make it more favourable for them.
TeamViewer out?
However, Petrus does not think that particular step is enough. “We demand that you stop bleeding millions and rapidly disengage from this mess,” Petrus said in the letter.
“We therefore demand that you enter professional exit discussions with a clear goal of a quick solution and that you do it immediately.”
According to a multitude of analysts, the sponsorship is seen as too costly for TeamViewer and therefore has faced a lot of criticism from all quarters.
