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Moelis & Co., the investment bank handling the sale of the Phoenix Suns for Robert Sarver, has yet to find a “whale” interested in buying the NBA team. In late September, NBC Sports reported that billionaires Jeff Bezos and Larry Ellison might have an interest. The two men, each worth over $100 billion, would certainly be the types of “whales” that could drive up the price of the Suns. But neither has made an offer so far.
One NBA team executive told me recently that he thinks there’s a greater chance that the Suns will sell for more than $5 billion than less than $4 billion. But the thinking among sports bankers is the higher-price scenario would be possible only with a whale bidding. Without the whale, they say they doubt the team would fetch $4 billion.
Later in the day, ESPN's Ramona Shelburne was on NBA Today and spoke about potential buyers for the Suns. Shelburne: "There's been a few names that you'll hear: Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, Robert Iger, former CEO of Disney, Laurene Jobs, who's a minority owner of the Washington Wizards as well, Larry Ellison, these are big names that are out there, there's gonna be a lot more names that you'll hear over the coming days and months, but my expectation is it'll be an outside owner who comes in to buy the Suns, and it'll take a couple of months at least, but Robert Sarver controls this process."
What did Lacob do? On the advice of then-NBA Commissioner David Stern, he bought into his hometown Boston Celtics as a minority partner and built relationships with league honchos. “When the Warriors came up in 2010, I had an advantage, ironically — maybe my only advantage — over Larry Ellison, which was I knew everybody in the league really well,” said Lacob, who partnered with Peter Guber to buy the Warriors in 2010, five years after MLB denied him, for $450 million. The team is now valued by Forbes at $5.6 billion.
A number of potential ownership groups have been rumored to be interested in pursuing the Trail Blazers. Among the names that I have heard as possible majority owners: Oracle Corporation co-founder Larry Ellison, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott and Laurene Powell-Jobs. Ellison has unsuccessfully attempted to buy NBA teams on three occasions. Scott is the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Powell-Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, is an executive and businesswoman.
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Chamath Palihapitiya: When I land, I call my friend Phil Hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) He listens to my sob story and says, hey, let's go and have some pizza and watch basketball with my friend Joe Lacob. So the next day, a Saturday, we go to Joe's house to eat pizza and watch some basketball. At the end of the pizza, he tells me that he's close to buying GSW. At the time, the news was that Larry Ellison was going to buy the team and I didn't think it likely that Joe would win the bid. But he was confident and says to me: "I have 10% of the team you can buy for $25M if you want to join our bid." I shook his hand, wired the money and at 34, became a co-owner of an NBA team. Pretty nuts! Joe's obviously done an amazing job building the best franchise in sports and I've been extraordinarily lucky to be along for the ride.
When Joe Lacob and Peter Guber paid $450 million for the Golden State Warriors in 2010, the sports world was left scratching its head. The first major team purchase for the venture capitalist and Hollywood producer, who outbid billionaire Larry Ellison, then the world’s sixth-richest person, set a record price for an NBA franchise. It was hardly anyone’s idea of a crown jewel. Forbes valued the team at $315 million seven months earlier, No. 18 in the league. The team had been to the playoffs just once in the prior 15 years and had inconsistent attendance at its 44-year-old arena. No one is questioning the deal now. Today the Warriors are valued at $3.5 billion, the third most valuable team in the NBA behind the New York Knicks ($4 billion) and Los Angeles Lakers ($3.7 billion), a ten-fold appreciation since 2009 that has proven to be the decade’s best team investment in all the major sports leagues, including the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and international soccer, on a percentage basis.
There is little doubt, if the franchise were to be put on the market, who would be the early odds-on favorite to buy it. That would be Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle Corporation. Ellison has attempted to buy three NBA teams, the Golden State Warriors, New Orleans Pelicans and Memphis Grizzlies. And if he bought the Blazers, he would become the richest owner in the NBA, surpassing the Clippers’ Steve Ballmer by about $15 billion. Ellison’s net worth has been estimated at $64.5 billion, which would make him the sixth-richest person in the world. He financed the winning sailboat in the 2010 America's Cup and actually crewed on that craft. He is also a licensed pilot who owns fighter jets.
When Paul Allen bought the team from Larry Weinberg on May 31, 1988, it came as a complete surprise. Nobody had any idea the team was even on the market until Allen showed up for the news conference. There is little doubt, if the franchise were to be put on the market, who would be the early odds-on favorite to buy it. That would be Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle Corporation. Ellison has attempted to buy three NBA teams, the Golden State Warriors, New Orleans Pelicans and Memphis Grizzlies.
And if he bought the Blazers, he would become the richest owner in the NBA, surpassing the Clippers’ Steve Ballmer by about $15 billion. Ellison’s net worth has been estimated at $64.5 billion, which would make him the sixth-richest person in the world. He financed the winning sailboat in the 2010 America's Cup and actually crewed on that craft. He is also a licensed pilot who owns fighter jets.
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When recently asked about the events of 2010, Larry Ellison’s representation quickly replied, “We will decline comment for this story.” In the aftermath of Lacob buying the team, Joe alleges that Ellison tried to sabotage the process, beseeching Lacob’s investors to pull out. “I know, I talked to investors along the way,” Lacob says. “I wasn’t in those conversations, so I don’t know. But I do know that we had a hard time because we thought we had several investors in the deal who disappeared suddenly.” Big-money minority owners who’d pledged loyalty to Ellison dropped out during that process. They’ve thus lost out on the massive windfall that’s come with this Warriors rise. Back in 2010, $450 million was a record price for a North American sports franchise. Now? No less an expert than David Stern says of the current Warriors, “The team is probably worth something in excess of $2 billion. Substantially in excess of $2 billion, eight years later.”
This illustrates another layer of complication in a team sale process: Is it the commissioner or the seller who holds the cards? Some knowing parties have speculated that Ellison miscalculated and fostered more of a connection with Stern than with Cohan. While, say, Clay Bennett might have benefited from a tight relationship with Stern in his pursuit of the then-Sonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder), every one of these situations is different. Stern, though famously powerful, saw himself as more of a facilitator in this and other proceedings. “I knew that Sal was representing the product, and I knew Joe, and I knew Larry (Ellison) and so I was in touch with them,” Stern said in a phone interview. “I don’t wanna get any further than that.” Stern added his assessment: “Larry could’ve made the purchase, but he didn’t. He skipped a beat and Joe moves right in and took the team away from him.”
Lacob had laid the groundwork with Cohan, though, having met with the notoriously shy absentee owner at AT&T Park years earlier. At the time, Cohan wasn’t selling, but Lacob wanted to make an impression. “So he liked me maybe,” says Lacob, who then muses, “I think that was part of it was that he really didn’t want Larry to get the team, perhaps.” Then Lacob picks up the sale story. “‘OK, what’s the price?’ I asked. He said, ‘$440 million and there will be no deductions for anything you find during the due-diligence process. That’s the price, flat out, has to be it. Second, $20 million, non-refundable under any circumstances.’ Now, that is a risk.” “And so I gave him an answer, instantaneously, and I don’t know where it came from, but it just came out of me: ‘I won’t do that.’ And he said, ‘OK.’ And I heard a silence at the other end of the line.”
Lacob just had one other big, unusual demand: He needed a signed purchase agreement within 72 hours. Such arrangements usually take months, but Lacob pressed on. There was too great a fear of Ellison catching wind and blowing the offer out of the water. Sure, Cohan could orally agree to this deal, but what if Ellison pulled an extra hundred million out of his couch cushions? Could Cohan be trusted not to buckle?