- M&A
- June 17, 2023
- 4 minutes read
Michael Jordan To Sell NBA Team Charlotte Hornets In $3B Deal
Basketball great Michael Jordan is cashing in on the National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise he acquired 13 years ago. He…
Basketball great Michael Jordan is cashing in on the National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise he acquired 13 years ago. He has signed an agreement to sell his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets to an investor group led by hedge fund honcho Gabe Plotkin and private equity honcho Rick Schnall. According to ESPN, the transaction values the Hornets at $3bn.
Jordan paid $275mn for a controlling stake in Charlotte Hornets in 2010. He’s cashing out for 11x that price, a stellar return for 13 years of ownership.
The new lead acquirers, Plotkin and Schnall, are no strangers to owning NBA clubs. Plotkin acquired a minority stake in the Hornets in 2019 at a $1.5bn valuation. Schnall is a minority shareholder in the Atlanta Hawks and will divest his stake to pave the way for the Hornets deal.
- Plotkin is best known as the founder of Melvin Capital Management, a hedge fund that shut down last year after losing billions of dollars on meme stocks. Before Melvin shut down, Plotkin was one of the world’s highest-paid hedge fund managers, earning $300mn in 2017 alone, according to Forbes.
- Schnall is co-president of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, a private equity firm with nearly $60bn of assets under management.
Plotkin and Schnall teamed up with several other moneyed investors to acquire the Hornets, including;
- Dan Sundheim, founder of multi-billion dollar hedge fund D1 Capital Partners.
-
Chris Shumway, founder of Shumway Capital, a multi-billion dollar investment firm.
- Amy Levine Dawson, daughter of Leon Levine, the late founder of the Family Dollar discount store chain.
- Ian Loring, an executive at private equity firm Haveli Investments.
- Damian Mills, founder of auto dealership firm Mills Automotive Group.
- Rapper J. Cole and country music star Eric Church.
The investor group is acquiring Hornets Sports & Entertainment (HSE), which includes the Charlotte Hornets, Greensboro Swarm (NBA G League) and Hornets Venom GT (NBA 2K League). The deal also includes managing and operating the Spectrum Center arena.
The transaction is subject to approval by the NBA Board of Governors. Jordan will remain a minority shareholder post-acquisition.
