Posted on 05/29/2014 3:35:07 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Forbes reports that former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who was once part of an unsuccessful bid to acquire the Sacramento Kings and move them to Seattle, has put in a $1.8 billion bid for the Los Angeles Clippers. Reports indicated that Shelly Sterling, who may, or may not have been authoized to sell the team depending on who you talk to, put a 5 p.m. Wednesday deadline on bids to be entered.
Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has offered $1.8 billion for the Los Angeles Clippers, according to a person familiar with Ballmer's interest in the NBA team. Ballmer, who retired as Microsoft's CEO four months ago has a net worth of $20 billion. Another source, with intimate knowledge of the bids that Rochelle Sterling has thus far received for the basketball team, said offers have come in between $1 billion and $2 billion and that the Ballmer package is strong.
It is still early in the bidding process for the Clippers and it is quite possible that the price could go higher, especially if interested parties join forces to buy the team. Still, I must tip my hat to Bill Simmons, who predicted at the end of April that the basketball team would fetch $1.75 billion. Donald Sterling bought the Clippers in June, 1981 for $12.5 million. NBA owners are voting June 3 to force he and his wife Rochelle to sell the team due to racist comments made by him in private that were taped and subsequently made public.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbssports.com ...
I wonder if all the people who bought the media myth that Oprah Winfrey was going to buy the Clipper will feel ridiculous.
“NBA owners are voting June 3 to force he and his wife Rochelle to sell the team”
I guess the sport writer was in gym class when they were learning grammar and usage.
Guy has more money than brains.
So, that means that at some point during a game, the scoreboard will turn blue, and all the team members will be rendered unconscious.
If this is a legitimate bid, I would grab it with both hands. It is twice the value of the franchise.
Besides Ballmer is such an incredible jack ass, it will be a hoot to see the kind of trouble his mouth and ego gets himself in.
Or the ones who said there was no way the team will sell for over 500 million.
No way the Clippers are worth that much.
They have no national following, and people in LA only care about them because the Lakers suck right now.
It’s going to be close to $1 billion.
PT Barnum was right.
Sterling is smart like a fox. If he is forced to sell, the tax laws say that he does not have to pay taxes on the sell. Not even capital gains. For now, he plays the injured party, raises the price, then sells at the top of the market and skips the tax man ... laughing all the way to the bank (and on his way back home).
Why is everyone focusing on the Clippers when Joe Lacob is a terrible bigot. He fired Mark Jackson because, a “black man and a Christian are okay for Oakland, but they won’t be appropriate for upscale San Francisco.”
“No way the Clippers are worth that much.”
I really question if ANY sports team is worth that much. It is purely an entertainment enterprise that only succeeds while people have the money to pay for it.
And we may be less than a few years away from people having money for anything but necessities. If I had 1.8 billion, it would probably be in gold or the ground. Likely a combination of both.
Can you site that law? That's interesting?
So Sterling has a HUGE motivation to have staged this whole thing?
Not if they put their boots on in safe mode :)
I can hear it now, “The Clippers were playing so well in the playoffs, then the froze up and it was the blue court of death.”
The Dallas Cowboys, the most valuable NFL Franchise is worth $2.3 Billion.
There is no way the Clippers are that close to them in value.
Yep - if the $1.8 Billion is the actuall sale price, the tax savings would be $360 Million-ish. He could easily pay the fine, slip a kickback of a couple million to the hottie for hush money and walk a way with a pretty penny. And it would all be legal.
yay, another grammar trooper. It’s bad enough when regular folks make that kind of error, but someone who’s PAID to write? Totally unacceptable.
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