AC Milan Owner Silvio Berlusconi's Fininvest conglomerate "has once again issued a denial" that he has sold his majority share in the club, although it has admitted that "the sale of a minority share is being assessed," according to Ben Gladwell of ESPN. It had been reported in recent days that Thai businessman Bee Taechaubol "was lining up an offer for shares in Milan," but the latest rumor -- emanating from Romania -- claimed that Chinese investor Poe Qui Ying Wangsuo had beaten him to buying the club. A photograph posted on wowbiz.ro "purported to show Berlusconi signing paperwork on the sale of 51 percent of the club to the Chinese magnate," known as "Mr. Pink," for the eponymous soft drink sold in the U.S. with which he made his fortune. The picture and report are inaccurate, however, according to Fininvest, which said, "[We] deny in the most categorical of ways that any kind of agreement has been reached for the sale of the stake in Milan. Furthermore, [Fininvest] repeats what it has already stated many times: various individuals have shown an interest in a partnership with Milan, but the proposition exclusively relates to a possible minority participation. Fininvest is, indeed, not interested in relinquishing control of the football club" (ESPN, 3/11).
