While selling tableware and home accessories won’t add much to Cristiano Ronaldo’s wealth, it’s likely to be less of a headache for him than crypto assets. The footballer has entered the designer porcelain business, according to a deal announced a few weeks ago with the storied Portuguese company Vista Alegre, just as it celebrates its 200th anniversary. Ronaldo, who played for Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus before joining his current club, Saudi Pro League team Al Nassr, has acquired 10% of Vista Alegre and 30% of its Spanish subsidiary. The business collaboration also includes the creation of a company with a 50% stake to expand into the Asian market and capitalize on Ronaldo’s global popularity.
Vista Alegre, with its artisanal processes and artistic design, is the exact opposite of the liquid and virtual world of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, which in 2022 partnered with the footballer to launch a collection of NFT (Non-fungible Tokens), a class of crypto assets linked to the soccer star. Since then, they have launched four collections inspired by CR7’s biography. One of the lures to encourage a purchase is the possibility of a face-to-face meeting with Ronaldo, who frequently promotes Binance on his social networks, despite being sued by a group of investors who have suffered losses. The lawsuit, filed in late 2023 in a Florida court, states that the footballer “promoted, supported and/or actively participated in the offer and sale of unregistered securities in coordination with Binance.” The three initiators of the lawsuit, which is also open to other victims, are demanding more than $1 billion from Ronaldo.
Lionel Balteiro (LaMousse)
Ronaldo’s real estate investments did not all go well either. In 2022, he sold the apartment he had bought in Trump Tower on New York’s Fifth Avenue for a price far below what he had paid. He had bought a 762-square-meter apartment for $18.5 million in 2015 and decided to sell it four years later. Due in part to the Covid pandemic, it was sold for $11.32 million after several price reductions.
In addition, his project to build a luxury apartment complex in Praia Formosa in Funchal, the capital of Madeira, has been questioned for its environmental impact and is suspected of corruption. The project is linked to the Pestana Group, which operates several hotels in Portugal, Spain, Morocco and the United States. It envisages the construction of 89 apartments 250 meters from Funchal’s last virgin beach. On the company’s website, all but four of the houses are listed as reserved, with prices ranging from 855,000 to 1.19 million euros.
Investigations by the public prosecutor
The management of this urban development project in an area under environmental protection was marked by irregularities and is one of the cases being investigated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Last January, it brought charges against the President of the Regional Government of Madeira, Miguel Albuquerque of the Social Democratic Party, and arrested three people on suspicion of corruption. The investigation is still ongoing.
Nothing, at least, that could threaten Ronaldo’s fortune. This year, Forbes magazine declared him the highest-paid athlete in the world, with an annual income of $260 million. Of this, he receives $200 million in salary from Al Nassr, while his off-field business interests bring in $60 million in areas as diverse as gyms, mineral water and hair transplants.
At the end of 2023, Ronaldo entered the media business in Portugal with a group of investors that acquired the Cofina Group, now renamed Medialivre. The player became the main shareholder of the company, which owns television channels and the newspapers Jornal de Negócios and Correio da Manhã, which had given Ronaldo unpleasant surprises in the past. It was Correio da Manhã that uncovered the illegal works in the penthouse he had bought next to Eduardo VII Park, which he eventually had demolished at the request of the Lisbon City Council.
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