Chelsea: Who is Hansjorg Wyss, the 86-year-old billionaire looking to buy-out Roman Abramovich?

Swiss medical magnate Hansjorg Wyss insists he has been given the opportunity to buy Chelsea as part of a consortium of ‘six or seven investors’ with Russian owner Roman Abramovich looking to sell. 

The 86-year-old, worth a reported £5.1bn, has admitted interest in purchasing the reigning European champions.  

‘Abramovich is trying to sell all his villas in England, he also wants to get rid of Chelsea quickly,’ Wyss told Swiss newspaper Blick. ‘I and three other people received an offer on Tuesday to buy Chelsea from Abramovich. 

Swiss medical magnate Hansjorg Wyss (R) has been given the opportunity to buy Chelsea

The Swiss billionaire claims he has been approached to buy Chelsea from Roman Abramovich

‘I can well imagine starting at Chelsea with partners. But I have to examine the general conditions first. But what I can already say: I’m definitely not doing something like this alone.

‘If I buy Chelsea, then with a consortium consisting of six to seven investors.’

But who is this 86-year-old billionaire who has no record of investing in sport, how did he make his fortune and what has he spent it on so far?

Born in the Swiss capital of Bern in 1935, Wyss was raised in an apartment with his two sisters. 

He received a master’s degree in civil and structural engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich in 1959 before going on to earn an MBA from Harvard six years later. 

Wyss sold Synthes USA – the world’s largest maker of implants to mend bone fractures – in 2012 for $19.7billion in cash and stock

After spells in textile engineering – including in different roles for car manufacturer Chrysler in Pakistan, Turkey and the Philippines – he worked in the steel industry and ran a side business selling planes. 

Through that side focus, Wyss met a surgeon who had co-founded Synthes, a medical device manufacturer. Spotting an opportunity, the Swiss founded and became president of Synthes USA in 1977.  

Now, the company is the world’s largest maker of implants to mend bone fractures. 

Under Wyss’ stewardship, the sales team of the American division expanded and trained surgeons how to use its products, such as internal screws and plates. 

He was Synthes’ worldwide CEO and chairman until his resignation as CEO in 2007, and was company chairman until Johnson & Johnson – the medical company which developed a Covid vaccine –  acquired the company five years later. 

Synthes USA is the world’s largest maker of implants to mend bone fractures

Wyss sold the company in 2012 for $19.7billion in cash and stock. Synthes is now part of their DePuy division. 

He now holds stakes in publicly-traded biotech companies NovoCure and Molecular Partners. 

Aside from the medical field, Wyss has been described as ‘among the most philanthropic people in the world’ according to Forbes. 

The Swiss philanthropist (L) also has charitable foundations with assets of over $2 billion

He also has charitable foundations with assets of over $2 billion while, in 2014, he pledged $120m to two universities in Zurich – the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich where he obtained his first master’s – to establish a centre to accelerate medical breakthroughs. 

Wyss has also pledged to donate $1 billion to conservation efforts around the world over a decade. Specifically, he donated the sum to the Wyss Campaign for Nature, aiming to conserve 30 per cent of the world’s land and oceans by 2030. 

Away from philanthropic activity, Wyss has been in favour of higher inheritance taxes for Switzerland’s wealthy and is a member of the Democracy Alliance, a club of liberal donors. 

There has also been a fascinating rivalry of sorts between Wyss, who supports liberal politics and fellow billionaire Christoph Blocher, who supports conservative politics. 

There has also been a fascinating rivalry of sorts between Wyss, who supports liberal politics and fellow Swiss billionaire Christoph Blocher (pictured), who supports conservative politics

Should Wyes be successful in his bid to buy Chelsea as part of a consortium, it would be his first reported foray into the world of professional sport

Wyss highlighted the advantages of Swiss openness toward the EU and immigrants while Blocher advocated for Switzerland’s independence in those matters 

Away from work, the 86-year-old is last known to live in Wyoming USA. He has one daughter, and enjoys hiking, skiing and backpacking, while he is also a hobby pilot. 

He owns a 900-acre ranch in Paso Robles, California, and as of March 2022 he is ranked 451 on Forbes’ list of billionaires with a real time net worth of $5.1bn.