Multi-millionaire Mr Malcolm Glazer is known as a shrewd investor whose love of sport is eclipsed by his canny business sense.

Described by Forbes magazine as having an "eye for value", he bought the woeful American football team Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1995 and transformed them into Super Bowl winners by 2003.

Born in Rochester, New York, the 76-year-old's estimated wealth last year stretched to a reported $1.1 billion (€0.9 billion), putting him at number 514 on Forbes' list of the world's richest people.

While Mr Glazer's fortune does not match that of Chelsea's Mr Roman Abramovich he is, like the Russian, a self-made man. Today he is the president and chief executive of First Allied Corporation and has more than 17,000 employees.

He started work at the age of eight in his father's watch-parts business.

When his father died seven years later it was Mr Glazer who took the reins.

Since then he has generated an immense fortune through a series of ambitious business investments.

His diverse business interests have included food equipment and supplies, healthcare, real estate, banking, natural gas and oil protection, internet publications, stocks, government securities and corporate bonds.

One of his most high-profile purchases was his 1995 acquisition of the Buccaneers. At that time the team had won just 30 per cent of games in its 19-year existence.

Within eight years Mr Glazer had defied his critics by turning the Bucs into Super Bowl winners and a valuable franchise.

Last year he expressed an interest in buying the Los Angeles Dodgers from Mr Rupert Murdoch, but the deal fell through.

In March, Mr Glazer moved to quash weeks of speculation by announcing that he had no current intention of making an offer for Manchester United.

Based in Palm Beach, Florida, Mr Glazer and his wife Linda have six children: Avram, Kevin, Bryan, Joel, Ed and Darcie.

Sons Bryan, Joel, and Ed each serve as executive vice-president for the Buccaneers.