Jim Ratcliffe

Jim Ratcliffe is a self-made figure whose drive I find hard not to respect. Born in Failsworth, the chemical engineer founded INEOS in 1998 and built it into a chemicals giant, becoming at one point the richest person in the UK and earning a knighthood. More recently he's bought into Manchester United, which is how plenty of sports fans came to know his name. What strikes me is the trajectory: an engineer who built a fortune from the ground up rather than inheriting one. I'm always drawn to people who climb on the strength of their own work, and his appetite to keep taking on new arenas even after success is genuinely energetic.

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Name (English)

Jim Ratcliffe

Name (Japanese)

ジム・ラトクリフ

Reading

じむ・らとくりふ

Born

October 18, 1952 (age 73)

Origin

Failsworth, United Kingdom

Occupation

engineer / chairperson / chief executive officer / businessperson / entrepreneur

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Libra / Dragon

University

University of Birmingham

Awards & achievements

• 2018 Knight Bachelor
• Petrochemical Heritage Award

• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim%20Ratcliffe
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A0%E3%83%BB%E3%83%A9%E3%83%88%E3%82%AF%E3%83%AA%E3%83%95
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1440023

Tags

• engineer
• chairperson
• chief executive officer

Last updated

September 18, 2026

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.