AC Milan

AC Milan suffer record €126 million annual losses

AC Milan have announced record losses of €126 million (£111m/$146m) for the 2017-18 financial year.

The club's latest statement shows a €53m (£46m/$61m) drop on the previous year and brings the club’s consolidated losses over the last 14 years to over €730m (£639m/$845m), with €460m (£403m/$533m) of that total accounted for in the last five years.  

Milan published half-year accounts earlier this year which showed a six-month loss of only €22.3m (£19.5m/$25.8m) against €39.3m (£34.4m/$45.5m) for the same period 12 months earlier.

Since then, however, Milan have undergone a change in ownership, with US hedge fund Elliot assuming control of the club after Li Yonghong missed deadlines to repay the company loan fees he had taken to complete his takeover of the club from Silvio Berlusconi in 2016. 

The loan taken out by Li carried a double-digit interest rate, while figures show that expenses rose 22.3 per cent during the first and only full year of the Chinese businessman’s ownership.

Since stepping in for Li, Elliot has made major changes to the senior management team, with Ivan Gazidis recently recruited from Arsenal to become Milan’s new Chief Executive. Club legends Paolo Maldini and Leonardo have also been brought in to work on player acquisition.

The club went on a major spending spree during the most recent transfer window, shelling out more than €200m (£175m/$232m) on signing new players over the summer, although some of those payments are postponed until future years.

Milan’s financial results for 2017-18 dwarf those of their cross-city rivals Inter, who recently revealed losses of €18m (£16m/$21m) for the same year.

Advertisement