1 min read

World Cup moneyball ⚽

2022 FIFA World Cup’s the biggest ticket in town and everyone wants to back a winner. Lloyds Banking Group has predicted their top choice, and Electronic Arts has simulated all 64 matches to pick theirs. The winning team takes home US$42 million and the runner up US$30 million.
Published on
November 29, 2022

It’s kick-off time for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. But off the pitch the experts are split on trying to predict a winner. 🏆

Lloyds Banking Group (LYG - ADR) has correctly predicted two of the last three World Cup winners and says that this year England is the team to back for World Cup glory. While it’s great to see big banks predicting something other than rampant inflation this year, Lloyds has nothing on the incredible hattrick prediction performance by Electronic Arts (EA). EA has correctly picked the last three World Cup winners. So, who’s EA backing this year? After simulating all 64 matches, EA says Argentina, led by the GOAT Lionel Messi, will likely come out on top. Vamos, vamos, Argentina!? 🥳

The winning team is set to score a cool US$42 million, while the runners-up will be ballers with US$30 million. 🤑 Still, that’s just a fraction of the outrageous US$300 billion Qatar is estimated to have spent on stadiums, infrastructure and entire cities to host the World Cup.

Perhaps the biggest winners last week though were investors in English Premier club Manchester United (MANU). Just hours after the club announced that red devil Cristiano Ronaldo would hand back his horns and leave the club, the company revealed they were looking at ‘strategic alternatives’ for the club, including a potential sale. 🪧 

That was met with wild cheers from fans and investors alike. Manchester United is publicly listed, but effectively controlled by an American family called the Glazers. The Glazers got off-side with fans after loading the company up with debt, taking dividends for themselves and failing to deliver a trophy since 2017. Just how keen are Man U fans to see the Glazers get the boot? Since the news, Man U’s share price has sailed more than +60%. Who could have predicted that? 🔮

Weekly news from Wall St
Subscribe to Hatch Weekly and get our latest stories straight to your inbox. Read by 10,000+ customers weekly, we help you stay in the know.
Free Getting Started Course
Take your first, or next, step to becoming a confident investor with Hatch's free online course – just 10 minutes a day, for 10 days.

We’re not financial advisors and Hatch news is for your information only. However dazzling our writing, none of it is a recommendation to invest in any of the companies or funds mentioned. If you want support before making any investment decisions, consider seeking financial advice from a licensed provider. We’ve done our best to ensure all information is current when we pushed ‘publish’ on this article. And of course, with investing, your money isn’t guaranteed to grow and there’s always a risk you might lose money.

More recent news articles

More recent learn articles

1 min read
May 29, 2023

In briefs from Wall Street 🤓

Nvidia, Marvell Technology and Workday have gone all in on AI and the flex has kept investors upbeat. Why AI? It seems when dealing with a tonne of data, AI does the heavy lifting so people can take innovation next level. Meanwhile, shoppers are feeling the pinch, so what’s happening in retail?
Read more
1 min read
May 23, 2023

In briefs from Wall Street 🤓

Take-Two Interactive shares surged to their highest yearly peak. Home Depot blames DIY dropoff for missed earnings. Is Walmart’s taking on Amazon? Who’s pillaging US$500 million from Target’s pockets. And has China’s economy rebounded? Here’s our glance back at a week of earnings.
Read more
1 min read
May 15, 2023

In briefs from Wall Street 🤓

Google announced their AI-first approach and a stack of new toys. What’s behind Petolon’s million dollar recall? Airbnb and Disney both reported earnings up, so what panicked investors? And could future banking crises be averted with new short-seller regulations? Here’s our snapshot of the week that was.
Read more