As Ben Ainslie acknowledged in an interview last October, Sir Jim Ratcliffe has “got plenty going on right now”. And as the pair edge closer to a shock split for reasons which are as yet undisclosed, it is fair to ask whether the once rapidly expanding Ineos sporting empire may be reaching saturation point.

A potential break-up with Ainslie is the first time Ratcliffe’s foot appears to have hovered over the brake pedal after major investments in six disciplines. With a superhuman effort now required to restore Manchester United to the top, Telegraph Sport explores how ambitions and plans for other projects may inevitably be feeling squeezed.

Football: A mountain still to climb

Old Trafford is head-and-shoulders the top priority. Ratcliffe’s spend now totals £1.25 billion on his 28.94 per cent stake, but equally significantly, as far as other projects are concerned, is his decision to redirect expertise and key personnel who were once shared fairly evenly across his sporting empire.

With the team in 13th place in the Premier League, the project proves more daunting by the day. He promised last February a “journey to take Manchester United back to the top of English, European and world football, with world-class facilities for our fans”. “Work to achieve those objectives will accelerate from today,” he announced after initially completing a 27.7 per cent stake.

What has followed has been intense short-term pain for what he hopes will prove long-term gain, having personally signed off the decision to make 250 staff redundant at United last year. Sir Alex Ferguson, who had helped to advise Ratcliffe closely on his plans for the club, then stepped down from a £2.1 million ambassadorial role in October.

There have also been tensions around funding for United’s charitable arm being hit and £40,000-a-year funding for the Association of Former Manchester United Players. On the field, delight at an FA Cup final win over Manchester City papered over cracks. Erik ten Hag has since been sacked and, even after the arrival of Ruben Amorim, the team falter.

However, as Ratcliffe ponders an immense to-do list that includes a potential 100,000-seat stadium which could cost £2.3 billion, the main impact on his other projects have been some of his key lieutenants joining him in the day-to-day running of the club.

Sir Dave Brailsford and Jean-Claude Blanc both have executive powers across Ineos Sport, but United has dominated their workload over the past year. Inevitably, both have significantly less input at the two other football clubs in the Ineos stable – Lausanne, purchased in 2017, and OGC Nice, bought in 2019.

Sailing: Hits the rocks

Ratcliffe has backed Ainslie’s team for the past two America’s Cup cycles to the tune of roughly £200 million. And he told Telegraph Sport on the eve of the 37th America’s Cup last October – Britain’s first Cup match for 60 years – that he would “definitely go again” in terms of backing him a third time.

Ratcliffe did caution, however, that he would seek to bring in outside sponsorship next time. “I don’t think we will necessarily fund it all [next time],” he said. “I think we will probably step out and bring in some other funders as well as ourselves. I wanted to fully fund it [the first two campaigns] so we didn’t operate by committee. But for the next one, I think we’d probably be the operator, but we’d multi-fund rather than purely self-fund. But I think we’ll definitely go again.”

It is unclear whether Ineos’s massive investment in United had a bearing on the decision to seek external funding. But either way, that agreement now appears to be in some jeopardy with reports of “tensions” between Ineos and the sailing team.

Cycling: Wheels falling off

Similar to sailing, in that Ineos are seeking to bring in outside sponsorship to help bear the load. They currently pump in around £50 million per season. Ineos Grenadiers chief executive John Allert told media last week that Ineos “do not want to spend more money” but added that they were committed to cycling for at least the next (2026 to 2028 World Tour) cycle. “They very clearly do want us to be a super team,” Allert said.

Ratcliffe and Ineos, who became sole owners of Tour Racing Ltd, which holds the team’s licence, in May 2019, are known to be desperate to win the Tour de France again. But the team appear to be some way off that, still in a transitional phase and restructuring following the departures of key figures such as Brailsford and Rod Ellingworth.

F1: A turbo-charged investment

This is one sport Ratcliffe is unlikely to be looking to divest himself of any time soon. Formula One is absolutely booming and Ineos’s one-third share of Mercedes F1, which it acquired in 2020, is likely to have risen sharply in value in the past four years. The F1 team were valued at $3.94 billion in November 2024, making it the second-most valuable F1 team, behind Ferrari, who were valued at $4.78 billion.

Rugby Union: All Blacks training deal

Ineos signed a six-year sponsorship deal with the All Blacks in 2021 worth around NZ$48 million (£22 million), according to reports in New Zealand. Under the agreement Ineos branding appears on the back of the playing shorts and on the front of the training jerseys for the All Blacks, Black Ferns, both national sevens teams, the Maori All Blacks, All Blacks XV, as well as the All Blacks Under-20 side.

Running: Big plans for small outlay

Commitment remains to a long-term partnership with NN Running Team and its star draw, Eliud Kipchoge, the greatest marathon runner of all time, who became the first human to run a sub-two hour marathon in the Ineos 1:59 Challenge. This partnership is one of Ineos’s newer ventures, struck in 2022, but the deal is thought to be worth a fraction of some of Ineos’s other ventures. In return for financial backing and sponsorship, NN have access to Ineos’s knowledge-sharing network across sports.