Monday, 2 June 2014

Ex-Microsoft CEO Steve Balmers To Buy Clippers For 2 Billion Dollars

The bidding war between several high-profile billionaires is reportedly over FORTUNE --

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer will reportedly buy the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team for $2 billion following the forced sale by owner Donald Sterling, whose racist comments earned him an expulsion from the NBA, the LA Times said in a tweet this afternoon. The sale is the largest ever for an NBA team. The most previously was $550 million earlier this month for the Milwaukee Bucks. It's also the second largest sum for any sports team in North America after the Dodgers sale for $2.1 billion in 2012.

Ballmer prevailed over a group said to have included Oracle's Larry Ellison, along with entertainment industry moguls Oprah Winfrey and David Geffen. In the past, Ballmer, a basketball fan, had discussed the possibility of buying the California-based franchise despite living in Seattle. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal earlier this month, Balmer expressed interest in the team. "I love basketball, and I'd love to participate at some point in the NBA," he said. "If the opportunity is outside of Seattle, so be it. I will learn about any team that comes up for sale at this point." He continued: "If I get interested in the Clippers, it would be for Los Angeles. I don't work anymore, so I have more geographic flexibility than I did a year, year-and-a half ago.

Moving them anywhere else would be value destructive." The price tag is $200 million more than reports earlier on Thursday had suggested he'd pay. Now, the tentative deal must pass through Sterling as well as the approval of the other 29 franchise owners. Sterling has indicated that he may fight the sale, which could leave the team in limbo for some time.

Culled from CNN money

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