Finances and ownership

t was under Florentino Pérez's first presidency (2000–2006) that Real Madrid started its ambition of becoming the world's richest professional football club.^[96] The club ceded part of its training grounds to the city of Madrid in 2001, and sold the rest to four corporations: Repsol YPF, Mutua Automovilística de Madrid, Sacyr Vallehermoso and OHL. The sale eradicated the club's debts, paving the way for it to buy the world's most expensive players such as Zinédine Zidane, Luís Figo, Ronaldo and David Beckham. The city had previously rezoned the training grounds for development, a move which in turn increased their value, and then bought the site.^[30] The EU-commission started an investigation into whether the city overpaid for the property, to be considered a form of state subsidy.^[97] The sale of the training ground for office buildings cleared Real Madrid's debts of €270m and enabled the club to embark upon an unprecedented spending spree which brought big-name players to the club. In addition, profit from the sale was spent on a state-of-the-art training complex on the city's outskirts.^[98] Although Pérez's policy resulted in increased financial success from the exploitation of the club's high marketing potential around the world, especially in Asia, it came under increasing criticism for being too focused on marketing the Real Madrid brand, and not enough on the performances of the team.
By September 2007, Real Madrid was considered the most valuable football brand in Europe by BBDO.^[99] In 2008, it was ranked the second most valuable club in football, with a value of €951 mil (£640 million / $1.285 billion),^[100] only beaten by Manchester United, which was valued at €1.333 billion (£900 million).^[101] In 2010, Real Madrid had the highest turnover in football worldwide.^[102] In September 2009, Real Madrid's management announced plans to open its own dedicated theme park by 2013.^[103]
A study at Harvard University concluded that Real Madrid "is one of the 20 most important brand names and the only one in which its executives, the players, are well-known. We have some spectacular figures in regard to worldwide support of the club. There are an estimated 287 million people worldwide who follow Real Madrid."^[104] In 2010, Forbes evaluated Real Madrid's worth to be around €992 million (USD $1,323 million), ranking them second after Manchester United, based on figures from the 2008–09 season.^[105][106] According to Deloitte, Real Madrid had a recorded revenue of €401 million in the same period, ranking first.^[107]
Along with FC Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao, and Osasuna, Real Madrid is organised as a registered association. This means that Real Madrid is owned by its supporters who elect the clubs president. The club president cannot invest his own money into the club^[108] it can only spend what it earns, this is mainly derived through merchandise sales, television rights and ticket sales. Unlike a limited company, it is not possible to purchase shares in the club, but only membership.^[109] The members of Real Madrid, called socios, form an assembly of delegates which is the highest governing body of the club.^[110] As of 2010 the club has 60,000 socios.^[111] At the end of the 2009–10 season, the club board of directors of the club stated that Real Madrid had a net debt of €244.6 million, 82.1 million lower than the previous fiscal year. Real madrid announced that it had a net debt of €170 million after the 2010-11 season.^[112]
From 2007 to 2011 the club made a net profit of €190 million.^[113][114]
During the 2009-10 season the Real Madrid made €150 million through ticket sales, which was the highest in top flight football.^[113] Real Madrid has the highest number of shirt sales a season, around 1.5 million.^[113]
For the 2010-11 season its wage bill totalled €169 million, which was second highest in Europe behind FC Barcelona.^[115] However its wage bill to turnover ratio was the best in Europe at 43%, ahead of Manchester United and Arsenal F.C. at 46% and 50% respectively.