Steve Ballmer bids $2B for Clippers

[LiquidPen]

have to say one thing GOD DAMN.. Microsoft did him good.. sad part is just pocket change for him still.




he Sterling family trust has signed an agreement to sell the Los Angeles Clippers to former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer for $2 billion, sources tell ESPN.com's Ramona Shelburne.

The agreement is going straight to the NBA for final approval and does not require additional approval from banned Clippers owner Donald Sterling, according to sources.

[+] EnlargeSteve Ballmer
Noel Vasquez/GC Images/Getty ImagesFormer Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer bid $2 billion to potentially buy the Clippers from Donald Sterling.

ESPN.com's Darren Rovell reported earlier Thursday that Ballmer's $2 billion bid was the highest submitted, topping those from groups led by music mogul David Geffen ($1.6 billion) and L.A. investors Tony Ressler and Steve Karsh ($1.2 billion).

Geffen confirmed to ESPN on Thursday night that his group had formally withdrawn from the bidding.

Sterling's wife, Shelly, had pushed to negotiate a sale before Tuesday's board of governors meeting at which both of the Sterlings' ownership interests could be terminated, while Donald Sterling had vowed to fight the NBA's attempts to force a sale.

News of Ballmer's bid was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.

Magic Johnson, who was referenced in the racist remarks Sterling made that resulted in the owner's ban from the NBA, expressed his excitement over Ballmer's bid in several tweets Thursday evening.

The $2 billion price tag is just for the Clippers and ranks among the richest ever for a North American professional sports franchise. The Los Angeles Dodgers were sold to the Guggenheim Group in 2012 for $2.15 billion, but that price included land, parking lots and TV deals, making it more expensive.

The Clippers deal would be the most paid by far for an NBA team, after the $550 million paid for the Milwaukee Bucks this year.

Ballmer, 58, was CEO of Microsoft from 2000 to '14, and is worth $20.3 billion, according to Forbes. He would become the richest majority owner in major U.S. sports, passing his former boss, Seahawks and Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen (worth $16 billion, according to Forbes). Ballmer was the only investor that did not immediately seek out other partners when preparing a bid.

On Wednesday, Seattle Seahawks (and former USC Trojans) coach Pete Carroll took to Twitter to back Ballmer.

It's not the first time Ballmer has bid on an NBA team. He was part of a group that attempted to buy the Sacramento Kings last year, with the intent of moving the team to Seattle. NBA owners voted to reject the proposed move.

Ballmer told The Wall Street Journal earlier this month that, should he obtain the Clippers, he would not attempt to move the franchise from Los Angeles, saying that would be "value destructive."

Shelly Sterling told bidders to submit letters of interest by Wednesday, with firm offers due by 5 p.m. ET on Thursday.

Geffen's group also included Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and Oprah Winfrey, as well as Guggenheim executives Todd Boehly and Mark Walter, Steve Jobs' widow Laurene Jobs, Steve Wynn's ex-wife Elaine Wynn, and Beats by Dre co-founder Jimmy Iovine.

Former NBA All-Star Grant Hill was part of Ressler and Karsh's group.

On a $2 billion sale, the Sterlings would pay approximately $662 million in capital gains taxes, according to accountant Robert Raiola, sports and entertainment senior group manager at O'Connor Davies LLP in New Jersey.

Click to read more...

 

[FrenchLicker]

America, equality for all, except you, you must sell your assets against your will and can't negotiate either.....


Edit.

I'm not saying his actions were acceptable.

 

[dmint]

America, equality for all, except you, you must sell your assets against your will and can't negotiate either.....


Edit.

I'm not saying his actions were acceptable.

Yeah I feel really bad for the 80 yr old racist who just got $2 BILLION dollars for being forced to sell the team he bought for $18(?) million dollars for almost 30 years ago and barely spent any $$ on payroll for all of those years except for the last 3 years.

:rollseyes:

 

[skeezer]

Thank God Oprah isn't going to be involved in anything NBA related. I can't stand that fucking turd.

 

[FrenchLicker]

Yeah I feel really bad for the 80 yr old racist who just got $2 BILLION dollars for being forced to sell the team he bought for $18(?) million dollars for almost 30 years ago and barely spent any $$ on payroll for all of those years except for the last 3 years.

:rollseyes:

I'm not justifying his actions but he's only going to get about half that after tax and then his half is going to get pillaged by his wife.....

 

[Marko]

That's fucked up. No professional sports team is worth 2 billion

Maybe The Yankees

 

[EmersonHart13]

#1 Manchester United - In Photos: The World's 50 Most Valuable Sports Teams - Forbes

#1 Manchester United
Value: $2.23 billion
Owner: Glazer family

#2 Real Madrid
Value: $1.88 billion
Owner: Club members

#3 New York Yankees
Value: $1.85 billion
Owner: Steinbrenner family

#3 Dallas Cowboys
Value: $1.85 billion
Owner: Jerry Jones

#5 Washington Redskins
Value: $1.56 billion
Owner: Daniel Snyder

#15 Ferrari
Value: $1.1 billion
Owner: Fiat Group

#16 Chicago Bears
Value: $1.09 billion
Owner: McCaskey family

#17 Green Bay Packers
Value: $1.09 billion
Owner: Shareholder-owned

#35 Los Angeles Lakers
Value: $900 million
Owner: Jerry Buss, Philip Anschutz

#36 Chicago Cubs
Value: $879 million
Owner: Ricketts Family

#40 McLaren
Value: $800 million
Owner: McLaren Group

#43 New York Knicks
Value: $780 million
Owner: Madison Square Garden

 

[framos242]

If I could have 1% of that $2 billion.....

 

[guspech750]

2 billion dollars for owning thugs.

 

[Marko]

I think Forbes is full of shit. Those numbers are just estimates.

 

[EmersonHart13]

How Ballmer's $2 billion Clippers deal could pay off - May. 30, 2014

Steve Ballmer's $2 billion deal to buy the Los Angeles Clippers dwarfs the previous $550 million record price for an NBA team the way a basketball center towers over a jockey.
But it's not quite as crazy as it seems, even if it's a purchase driven in no small part by the glamor of being a team owner.
That's because Ballmer's timing to spend that kind of money for the team couldn't be better.
The team is poised to see a huge jump in television dollars in just a few years. And those sports rights deals are likely to further lift team valuations in coming years, as advertisers scramble to find programing that viewers won't watch days after it originally airs.

"Every buy, in any business, to a certain extent is a vanity buy," said Sal Galatioto, an investment banker who handles the sale of sports teams, but was not involved in this one. He thinks the deal will be work out well for Ballmer.
"The asset appreciation in the sports world has been excellent," Galtioto said. "Media content value is continuing to go up. And it's something he'll have fun with."
Ballmer, worth an estimated $20 billion, doesn't have to worry about covering debt service on his purchase. And he has a chance of making a better return than the $55 million in dividend payments that he would be getting on $2 billion worth of Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) stock.

The team's current local television rights deal that runs through the 2015-16 season pays about $20 million a year. It was negotiated in the midst of a recession in 2009, when the team was still a joke on the court and playing before empty seats many nights.
But the Clippers' on-court performance has improved, led by superstars Blake Griffin and Chris Paul. The team has sold out every game since early 2011 and its ratings are significantly higher.

Perhaps more importantly, Los Angeles now has several competing regional sports networks, owned by Fox (FOX), Time Warner Cable (TWC, Fortune 500) and the Los Angeles Dodgers. And because all of them are scrambling to lock up games to broadcast, experts estimate the next deal's rights could jump to $75 million to $80 million a year.
"The timing is terrific for a new owner to come in," said Lee Berke, CEO of LHB Sports Entertainment and Media, a consulting firm. "You're entering into a seller's market. and you have a chance to profit on that momentum."
The NBA's national TV deal, which pays each team about $30 million a year, also ends after the 2015-16 season, and the annual payout could double as well, said Berke.
But even if the team's annual profit quadruples to $60 million because of all the new TV money, it'll take more than three decades for Ballmer to make back the purchase price. So the real payout will come whenever he, or his heirs, decide to sell the team at some point that's likely well in the future.
"My guess is that he would be able to make a higher rate of return if he invested it elsewhere," said a Patrick Rishe, a professor of sports business at Webster University. "But this is not about dollars and cents. He's doing this because he wants to be part of this exclusive club. Why not invest in something he's passionate about?" To top of page