Steve Ballmer bids $2B for Clippers
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blackrain
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The 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.
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Geffen confirmed to ESPN on Thursday night that his group had formally withdrawn from the bidding.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.
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.
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
http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/11003237/former-microsoft-executive-steve-ballmer-submits-winning-bid-buy-clippers-according-sources
Comments
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Dey know
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I need to meet sterlings daughter asap. Sell my condo and everything. Hold old is she?
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Doesn't matter.
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Donald Sterling was jewish. This man's mom was jewish.
I posted this last week:The Iconoclast wrote: »It will be sold to a friend, associate or relative who harbors the exact same views. Nepotism and Cronyism are weapons of the wealthiest 1% used to uphold the status quo.
Nothing to see here, nothing will change except this time whoever the cac that owns it, will keep their mouth shut and views to themselves while invoking the political game of publicly distancing themselves from Sterling.
From white billionaire to another. Nothing will change except this one will keep his mouth shut. -
The Iconoclast wrote: »Donald Sterling was jewish. This man's mom was jewish.
I posted this last week:The Iconoclast wrote: »It will be sold to a friend, associate or relative who harbors the exact same views. Nepotism and Cronyism are weapons of the wealthiest 1% used to uphold the status quo.
Nothing to see here, nothing will change except this time whoever the cac that owns it, will keep their mouth shut and views to themselves while invoking the political game of publicly distancing themselves from Sterling.
From white billionaire to another. Nothing will change except this one will keep his mouth shut.
? really thought sterling was gonna sell to a black person? It is what it is. -
He might move them to Seattle.
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Seattle Supersonics are back
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? happy AF he can't have the clippers anymore meanwhile sterling laughing straight to the bank.
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The Iconoclast wrote: »Donald Sterling was jewish. This man's mom was jewish.
I posted this last week:The Iconoclast wrote: »It will be sold to a friend, associate or relative who harbors the exact same views. Nepotism and Cronyism are weapons of the wealthiest 1% used to uphold the status quo.
Nothing to see here, nothing will change except this time whoever the cac that owns it, will keep their mouth shut and views to themselves while invoking the political game of publicly distancing themselves from Sterling.
From white billionaire to another. Nothing will change except this one will keep his mouth shut.
? really thought sterling was gonna sell to a black person? It is what it is.
How many of those black dudes offered up 2B dollars? -
Seattle Supersonics are back
While this sterling fiasco was going down....i recall hearing tim legler mentioning this guy name and was saying that sterling might try to get his final jab in against the clipper organization and sell the team to bellmar who badly wants a team back in the seattle market.Damn donald like if i cant have the team L.A. won't either. -
Its a win for him though.... like Barkley said at the end of the day he's gonna get paid regardless the outcome
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I doubt the Clippers were worth more than $300 mill when he bought em, that's gonna be helluva flip
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? happy AF he can't have the clippers anymore meanwhile sterling laughing straight to the bank.
he already rich ? .
he mad as ? he's forced to do something against his will. -
From an NBA point of view they just want him out and don't wanna ? with him anymore
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He might move them to Seattle.
You didn't read the article did you? Part of him owning the team is agreeing to keep them in LA -
Nope i just remembered hearing that name ballmer and he was the guy they were talking about who would probably move the team.
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Same agreement happened in Seattle.
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The Iconoclast wrote: »Donald Sterling was jewish. This man's mom was jewish.
I posted this last week:The Iconoclast wrote: »It will be sold to a friend, associate or relative who harbors the exact same views. Nepotism and Cronyism are weapons of the wealthiest 1% used to uphold the status quo.
Nothing to see here, nothing will change except this time whoever the cac that owns it, will keep their mouth shut and views to themselves while invoking the political game of publicly distancing themselves from Sterling.
From white billionaire to another. Nothing will change except this one will keep his mouth shut.
You say that like their families knew each other. He just happened to out bid the other rich white guy Geffen by $500 million -
It doesn't matter, status quo upheld. This guy probably hold's an identical perspective, but he isn't stupid enough to publicize his.The Iconoclast wrote: »Donald Sterling was jewish. This man's mom was jewish.
I posted this last week:The Iconoclast wrote: »It will be sold to a friend, associate or relative who harbors the exact same views. Nepotism and Cronyism are weapons of the wealthiest 1% used to uphold the status quo.
Nothing to see here, nothing will change except this time whoever the cac that owns it, will keep their mouth shut and views to themselves while invoking the political game of publicly distancing themselves from Sterling.
From white billionaire to another. Nothing will change except this one will keep his mouth shut.
You say that like their families knew each other. He just happened to out bid the other rich white guy Geffen by $500 million
Like @Pico said Sterling is laughing to the bank. He'll die with more money in the bank now than he would've as an owner and the thing that will please him the most, is that ownership was transferred to a fellow white male and not to the people that triggered his 'fall from grace' - minorities.
I'm glad through swift action, the NBA was able to temporarily bruise his ego with punitive measures, but lets be real, in the grand scheme of things this was nothing to him. So there's no point skipping around and singing the "wicked witch is dead...".
? him and any cac of his ilk. -
Magic Johnson never had a chance
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Yep, he'll be about a billion richer, right before he returns to dust. The few things that would outlast him besides his estate, have all been but destroyed. Namely, reputation. On principle I feel that the publicity was still worth it.
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The user and all related content has been deleted.
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Donald won
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? happy AF he can't have the clippers anymore meanwhile sterling laughing straight to the bank.
Baby the man was worth a billion ... He was doing that regardless of what happened to this team -
I'm just glad this particular CAC is out the leauge ....I was also thoroughly elated at all the white tears shed over this ? paste during this whole process ...ohhhh lord them white tears was flowing so damn hard ... They just couldn't believe the white on abuse they were witnessing right before their eyes
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