What Palmer Luckey does when he's not building billion-dollar companies

TL;DR

The video profiles Jim Ratcliffe (chemical engineer who built Ineos via leveraged buyouts of BP spinoffs, then spent billions on passion projects like the Grenadier car and sports teams) and Palmer Luckey (sold Oculus, now funding an X-Files-style alien hunt and a retro game mod company).

Key insights

• Jim Ratcliffe’s core strategy was buying chemical divisions that conglomerates considered distractions, using heavy debt (3 M equity on an 80 M purchase), then doubling EBITDA in five years.
• He underwrote Eliud Kipchoge’s sub‑2‑hour marathon for fun, owns Team Sky Cycling, one‑third of Mercedes F1, 25 % of Manchester United, and the America’s Cup sailing team.
• The Grenadier car company was started because Land Rover refused to remake Defender parts; Ratcliffe has lost $2 B on it since 2018 (‑$300 M profit last year).