Mansour is the owner of the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), an investment company for the Abu Dhabi royal family,[8] that acquired Manchester City in September 2008. The football club, which is operated by Khaldoon Al Mubarak and the CFG, has overseen a significant transformation since the takeover, having won seven top-flight league titles, including its first in 44 years and first Premier League title in 2012 and the Champions League title in 2023. Mansour owns multiple other sports clubs, including New York City FC in Major League Soccer.[9] Human rights groups and other critics have characterized Sheikh Mansour's sports investments as sportswashing to improve the image of the UAE amid its controversial human rights record.[10][11][12]
In 1997, Sheikh Mansour was appointed chairman of the presidential office, at which time his father Sheikh Zayed was the president of the UAE. After the death of his father, he was appointed by his eldest half-brother, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as the first minister of presidential affairs of the United Arab Emirates, following a merger of the presidential office and presidential court. He also served in a number of positions in Abu Dhabi to support his brother, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who was still the Crown Prince at the time.[16]
He was appointed chairman of the ministerial council for services (now Ministerial Development Council).[17] Since 2000 he chaired National Center for Documentation and Research. In the 2004 reshuffle, he became minister for presidential affairs.[15] In 2005, he became the deputy chairman of the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC), chairman of the Emirates Foundation, Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority, and Abu Dhabi Fund for Development. In 2006, he was named the chairman of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department. In 2007, he was appointed chairman of Khalifa bin Zayed Charity Foundation.[18][19]
Mansour served as the chairman of First Gulf Bank until 2006,[20] and as a member of the board of trustees of the Zayed charitable and humanitarian foundation. Mansour has established scholarship programs for UAE students to study abroad. He is also chairman of the Emirates horse racing authority (EHRA).[3] On 11 May 2009, he was appointed deputy prime minister, retaining his cabinet post of minister of presidential affairs.[21] On 29 March 2023, with the approval of the UAE Federal Supreme Council, the UAE president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued a resolution, appointing Mansour as the country's second vice president, to serve alongside Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai.[22][23]
In October 2022, whilst Mansour’s tenure as deputy prime minister, he was accused of helping Roman Abramovich and other wealthy Russian oligarchs evade sanctions during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. He was described as being “central” to the flow of sanctioned Russian assets to the UAE.[24]
Mansour is the chairman of the Emirati state-owned Mubadala Investment Company.[25] He was formerly chairman of IPIC. After the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal was highlighted and Khadem al-Qubaisi, who was managing IPIC, was arrested in 2016, IPIC was folded into Aabar Investments. Qubaisi blamed Mansour and the UAE authorities for using him as a scapegoat in the affair.[26][27]
Mansour has a 32% stake in Virgin Galactic after investing $280 million in the project through Aabar in July 2009.[29][30] Aabar also has a 9.1% stake in Daimler after purchasing the stake for $2.7 billion in March 2009[31] and it was reported that Aabar wishes to increase its stake to 15% in August 2010.[32] He owns the Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation (ADMIC) which partnered with British Sky Broadcasting to establish Sky News Arabia – a new Arabic-language news channel headquartered in Abu Dhabi.[33] ADMIC also owns the English-language newspaper The National,[34] and bought a 2.1% stake in pan-European channel Euronews in 2017.[35]
Mansour is an accomplished horse rider who has won a number of endurance racing tournaments held in the Middle East. He is chairman of the Emirates horse racing authority. He is a patron of the annual Zayed International Half Marathon competition in Abu Dhabi.[36]
Sheikh Mansour married Sheikha Alia bint Mohammed bin Butti Al Hamed in the mid-1990s.[15] They have one son together, Zayed,[41][16] who married Sheikha Meera bint Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan in May 2022.[42]