Michael Jordan filled his personal basket

The greatest basketball player in history, Michael Jordan, was also an extremely successful businessman. He was able to sell a controlling stake in the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets for several times more than it cost him 13 years ago, despite the modest sporting status of the team, which under Jordan has always been a hopeless underdog.

On Thursday, it was announced that the sale of a controlling stake in the Charlotte Hornets NBA club by its key owner Michael Jordan to a tandem of entrepreneurs – the head of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Rick Schnall and the founder of Tallwoods Capital Gabe Plotkin, was announced. Jordan’s commentary says he’s happy to “give the reins” to Charlotte “to two successful, innovative and strategic leaders.” He himself will remain a minority shareholder.

This news caused a huge stir in the US for two reasons. First of all, of course, thanks to the fame of the seller. Michael Jordan is a true icon of the entire world of sports.

In fact, all experts, all media resources consider him the best basketball player in history. During the 1990s, Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to the NBA title six times and also amassed a colossal amount of individual prizes. He won the award five times the most valuable player of the season, ten times ahead of everyone in the average performance in the regular season. His fame spread far beyond America, and at some point there was simply no equal to Jordan in popularity among athletes. As there was no equal to him in terms of the ability to monetize his commercial potential. Michael Jordan was among the first athletes whose fortune, which was based on advertising contracts, according to independent estimates, reached $ 1 billion.

The second reason is the parameters of the transaction. They are not officially published. But, as he claims ESPNthe deal was made “based on an estimate of the club’s total value” of $3 billion.

In any case, Michael Jordan made a dream business at the club. Already a minority shareholder, Jordan acquired a controlling stake in Charlotte, bringing their total number to 70%, in 2010, seven years after the end of his playing career. And it only cost him $250 million.

It must be said that in recent years, the NBA clubs have indeed grown dramatically in price – primarily due to the improved economic situation in the league as a whole. But still, even considering this circumstance, the case with Charlotte looks amazing. For example, the NBA’s record sale of the club is the one that allowed Mat Ishbia to take control of the Phoenix Suns at the end of last year. It cost him $4 billion. But Phoenix is ​​one of the flagships of the NBA. “Charlotte” is almost the complete opposite of him.

In their statement, Rick Schnell and Gabe Plotkin noted that Michael Jordan “brought stability to the club”. True, we are talking about stability is very specific.

For the past 13 years, Charlotte has firmly held the status of a hopeless underdog in the NBA. Under Michael Jordan, he made only two play-offs without advancing beyond the first round and hasn’t made it to the cup stage since 2016. In the last regular season, the team took 14th place in the Eastern Conference.

Fall 2022 Forbes made the next rating of NBA clubs, ranking them according to the estimated cost. Charlotte ended up in it in 27th position, fourth from the bottom with an estimate of $1.7 billion. And its financial performance looked no more remarkable than its athletic performance. Annual receipts – $269 million, operating income – $94 million: all these are by no means outstanding figures for the NBA.

However, the new owners of Charlotte, it seems, are well aware of what asset they got. At the very least, while thanking Michael Jordan for his work, Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin promised, “by developing innovative business practices”, “further investment in the team” and the associated infrastructure. Without them, from an unpleasant label that even the radiance of a basketball legend could not overshadow, Charlotte clearly cannot be rid of.

Alexey Dospekhov