Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to buy Clippers for $2 billion

[ErikJ]

Source: LA Times

Former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer won a frenetic bidding war for ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers, with his $2-billion offer setting a record price for an NBA team, The Times has learned.

Ballmer, who was chief executive of Microsoft for 14 years, was chosen over competitors that included Los Angeles-based investors Tony Ressler and Steve Karsh and a group that included David Geffen and executives from the Guggenheim Group, the Chicago-based owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

A person with knowledge of the negotiations said the Geffen group bid $1.6 billion and Ressler at $1.2 billion. The sale price is almost four times the highest previous NBA franchise sale price -- the $550 million paid earlier this month for the Milwaukee Bucks. It is second only to the Dodgers 2012 sale for $2.1 billion as the highest price for any sports team in North America.

The prospective sale by Clippers co-owner Shelly Sterling comes five days ahead of an NBA hearing to oust her family from ownership following a controversy in which Donald Sterling insulted African-Americans in a secret audio recording.

The tentative deal still must receive the blessing of her husband, Donald Sterling, .........................

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-sn-clippers-sale-ballmer-20140529-story.html

[KamaAina]

1. He got ripped off.

About a billion should have been more than enough. We are, after all, talking about the junior team in the market, sort of like the Brooklyn Nets vis-a-vis the Knicks. He just enriched the racist scum by an additional billion.

edit: On the other hand, it is entirely possible that Ballmer intends to move the team to Seattle, which got royally hosed when Clay Bennett moved the Sonics to Oklahoma City (!), where, as the Thunder, they are presently contending for the West title.

[nolabear]

5. Fuckin'-A!

[KamaAina]

8. According to the article, he denies it.

And remember, the NBA board vetoed the move of the Kings. Of course, this move wouldn't leave L.A. without a team, at least technically.

[nolabear]

11. Talk about persona non grata. He won't be able to walk the streets if he doesn't.

A girl can dream…

[former9thward]

6. I saw him on TV a few days ago.

No, I have no link. Anyway he said he had no interest in moving to Seattle. He said it would destroy the value of the team.

edit add link: The businessman said in a recent interview that he had no intention of moving the Clippers. He said that the high valuations for the team only made sense in Los Angeles -- the second biggest media market in the country.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-sn-clippers-sale-ballmer-20140529-story.html

[ErikJ]

7. Pledged to not move it to Seattle

"The deal also needs the eventual approval of 29 other NBA owners, but is expected to clear that hurdle as long as Ballmer reaffirms his pledge to keep the team in Los Angeles and not move it to Seattle, where he lives."

Maybe he's trying to compete with his old nemesis Paul Allen.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. "The Seattle Blue Screens" ...

[KamaAina]

10. DUzy!!

[KamaAina]

12. Actually, NBA rules forbid a team from being named after its owners.

This most recently came into play when FedEx bought the Vancouver Grizzlies and moved them to Memphis. (Why all the hate for the Northwest? ) They wanted to call the team the Memphis Express, but were denied.

[RoccoR5955]

23. Maybe they could resurrect

Clippy, and use him as a mascot!

[muriel_volestrangler]

24. Anyone inside the costume would not be able to get life insurance

They could use him tactically, I suppose - keep him hidden, but if it's clear they're going to lose, bring him out, and there's a guaranteed riot as fans of both sides storm the court to rip him apart.

[corkhead]

26. lol

[christx30]

27. That's a funny thought:

"It looks like you're trying to block a 3-point shot. Would you like help with that?"

[Blue_Tires]

19. It's not an issue of what the real value of the franchise is...

It's an issue of how much someone is willing to pay for it

And I agree: If the Clip-show is really worth $2 billion, then the Lake-show must be worth 8.5....

[951-Riverside]

2. I knew it!!!!!!!

[nolabear]

3. C'Mon BABEEEE!!! Bring that team to Seattle!

[ballyhoo]

4. I would bet this was arranged by the MIC.

[TeamPooka]

13. It would be funny if he turned out to be a racist too.

[olddad56]

18. I wonder how many white men in their 80s in the US actually are not racist...

even though many of them would never see themselves that way. I'm not excusing Donald Sterling for anything, but I honestly don't think he saw himself as a racist person. I say that because in the recorded private conversation that went public, he didn't use any obviously ugly racial slurs or show any hatred toward people of color. White people of his generation had racism so extremely embedded in in their minds that there is no way most people of that time saw people of color as being equal. It is sad, but in many parts of this country that mentality still exists. People who grew up when this country was so much more racially divided that it is now, have learned to be more politically correct, and are not necessarily haters, but I don't think many of them, deep down inside, have ever gotten to the point where they would consider people of a different skin color to be equal. Just my opinion.

[SoapBox]

20. The list of team of team owners (with pictures) was

pretty darned white...not much diversity among them.

[Grassy Knoll]

14. DOS is too slow for pick and roll. n/t

[Nye Bevan]

15. I imagine that his reaction to winning the bidding was something like this....

[onehandle]

16. Will Bill Gates' college roommate ruin them like he ruined Microsoft? nt

[n2doc]

17. 20,000% ROI in 3 decades

Sterling bought the team for 10 mil back in 1981. And ran it into the ground as one of the worst franchises for nearly that entire time. He hit the jackpot, had he been forced to sell back 5-6 years ago he would have been lucky to get 10% of this.

[DeSwiss]

21. $2 BILLION!!!! For this!?!?!

- Three things should be evident from this photo:

(1) We now know why Sterling didn't like his girlfriend getting too close to other men.
(2) We now know why Sterling is so angry at life.
(3) We now know why Sterling's wife didn't mind him having a girlfriend. Several even.

K&R

[yuiyoshida]

22. Finding a buyer didn't take long

did it?

[DeSwiss]

29. Via Forbes....

The value of all businesses have increased and companies and people are flush with cash. Facebook just paid $19 billion for messaging company WhatsApp, which generated $20 million in revenue last year. The S&P 500 is up 282% since the stock market lows of March 2009. Stocks are currently trading at 15 times forward earnings compared to roughly 10 times in 2011, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. link

[center][/center]

Translation: ''We are so filthy rich, so lacking in any morals whatsoever and we have so much F!@#$ing money that we don't what else to do with it!!!! But mainly because we're MORONS''

- Okay that last part was my embellishment. Sorry.







RACIST DIRTBAG DONALD STERLING NOW $2.5 BILLION RICHER

[yuiyoshida]

30. Yes the uppercrust, the ruling class, the 1%

While the rest of us scramble for our daily rice.

[whistler162]

25. At least it isn't Steve Wozniak.....

in which case the Clippers players would not be able to play with other teams if they wanted to.

[christx30]

28. So Sterling bought the team for $12 million,

and he's selling for $1.8 billion. Nice. In related news, 12 other NBA team owners just tweeted the n-word.