What Fosun's billionaire owner once said when asked if he would ever sell Wolves | OneFootball

Fosun's leader Guo Guangchang professed his commitment to Wolves in 2019

Fosun Group completed their purchase of Wolves in July 2016 following the team’s 14th place finish in the Championship.

The Midlands outfit suffered back-to-back relegations in 2012 and 2013, but made their return to the second tier in 2014.

Previous owner Steve Morgan agreed to sell 100 percent control of the Old Gold, along with its assets, in a deal worth £45 million.

Fosun also agreed to commit to an investment of between £20 and 30 million in their first years in charge, which proved instrumental in the club returning to the top flight in 2018 under Nuno Espírito Santo.

Wolves’ return to the Premier League under Fosun

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Wolves’ first season under new ownership led to a lot more of the same, with Rickie Lambert coming in as manager in November 2016 and overseeing a 15th place finish.

But he was replaced by Espírito Santo in May 2017, and an impressive level of investment in the first team squad followed.

The Championship side added Helder Costa, Ivan Cavaleiro, Romain Saiss, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and Prince Oniangué in big-money moves.

And these additions, along with the 2015/16 arrival of Conor Coady, proved key to their rise to the top of the second division table.

Fosun’s stance on selling Wolves

Former chairman Jeff Shi discussed the possibility of Fosun selling their stake in Wolves in the future.

He revealed that a discussion with Guo Guangchang, one of the leaders of Fosun, led to him claiming that he wanted to keep the club forever.

“I had a discussion with Chairman Guo; I asked him if Wolves win everything in the world will you sell it at a good price? He said: ‘No, I will keep Wolves in Fosun forever’,” said Shi.

He also suggested that there may be some assets related to Wolves that Fosun may cash in on in the future, but that the club itself will be a legacy due to how important it's become in their lives.

“In Fosun, we have some assets where we’ll buy and sell, but some are very crucial assets which we’ll keep forever, now it looks like Wolves will become a kind of legacy for the Fosun group because it’s so important to us,” he added.

“If we keep it forever, it means we will try to keep investing, we will try to make the club better and better in the future, but our aims will not change, because if you want to keep it forever we have to help the club to be the best, else why are we keeping it?”

Wolves’ decline to the Championship

Wolves finished seventh in back-to-back years after earning promotion back to the Premier League, which even led to a Europa League campaign in 2019/20.

The Midlands outfit reached the quarter-finals in a year that was disrupted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Wolves slumped to 13th in the following campaign, but rallied back to 10th in 2021/22, but this was the beginning of their decline into the Championship.

Fosun’s management of the club led to them becoming increasingly unpopular among supporters, with several key players being sold without being adequately replaced, such as Matheus Cunha, Pedro Neto and Rayan Ait-Nouri.

And a disastrous 2025/26 led to the team finishing bottom of the Premier League table, earning just 20 points.

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Fosun’s future at Wolves

Shi has departed as chairman, but Fosun remains in charge at Molineux, and there have been no hints that they could look to sell their stake in the club.

The Old Gold had an active summer transfer window in the aftermath of their relegation, with new head coach Cesar Peixoto overseeing the signing of eight players.

This included returns to Molineux for Raul Jimenez and John Ruddy, with the team targeting automatic promotion back to the Premier League.

While Fosun have received a lot of criticism for their role in the side’s decline over the last few years, it appears that they are still committed to turning things back around and getting Wolves into the Premier League again.