Longtime Hornets majority owner Michael Jordan may soon be giving up control of the franchise. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Jordan is currently “in serious talks” to offload a majority stake in the Hornets to another ownership group fronted by Hawks minority owner Rick Schnall and current Charlotte minority owners Gabe Plotkin and Daniel Sundheim.
While a deal is not imminent, there’s momentum toward an agreement that would eventually make Schnall and Plotkin co-governors of the Hornets, Wojnarowski adds.
Woj hears that Jordan intends to hold on to at least a minority piece of the club if a sale agreement is reached.
Jordan purchased his initial majority stake in the Hornets for $275MM in 2010, but has been at least a partial owner since 2009. The Hornets’ value as a franchise has only increased since Jordan bought that initial stake. Sportico’s most recent valuation of the team estimated its worth at $1.77 billion (Twitter link).
With a new television deal on the horizon, it seems like a wise investing decision to maintain at least some portion of Charlotte for the immediate future.
The rebuilding Hornets currently occupy the East’s No. 14 seed with a 22-49 record. The team is in prime position to add a major talent in what is expected to be an exciting 2023 draft. During the 2021/22 season, Charlotte did qualify for the East’s play-in tournament, but lost a 132-103 blowout to the Hawks.
Mike a bum. This is a black mark on his legacy.
I like allot of people sometimes forget the Hornets are a thing. I think his legacy will be fine.
Not to me. As a Black man, Jordan owning a franchise could have meant something. Instead it means nothing. Wait a couple days when all the talking heads figure out a majority Black owner, one of how many in major professional sports sold out. One of them will take him to task.
Great player of course.
Poor FO guy in both DC and Charlotte.
He used to bug GM Jerry Krause and owner Jerry Reinsdorf about players they should bring in, almost all of whom stunk….including a few they did bring in.
It happens.
He hasn’t been successful. He will make money.
I suspect Hornets fans are happy about this development.
Yes! I’m a Hornets fan and I’m extremely happy about this! Great as Jordan was as a player, he’s been equally as awful as an owner/executive.
This is just hate. People act like he took over some stories franchise. When the reality is, he took over an expansion team. Like how long it took grizzlies and raptors to do something.
It’s not hate. The Hornets/Bobcats have been in the league since ’04, and Jordan has owned them since ’10. It shouldn’t take over a decade to build a team, and they’ve had high picks to do it with. Under Jordan they just haven’t drafted well.
It doesn’t tarnish his legacy as a player in any way. The fact is he’s a very poor owner, though.
There have been teams that have had longer stretches of bad. Before this season the Kings last 500 season was in 2006
This is a fart in the clouds compared to the forgotten Washington era…
MJs legacy is not tarnished at all by a team people forget exists…
Ytf wouldn’t he wait to see if he gets wemby. It’s literally only a month and a half away from the lottery. That dude could add a billion or 2 to the worth of a franchise.
You’d think he’d wait until after the draft lottery considering the franchise value of whichever team drafts Victor will likely skyrocket.
Absolutely right if charlotte somehow got the number 1 pick the teams value would increase
Wow.
Bummer. Like him close to the game. Don’t go Michael joe
Good— give the poor hornets a chance to be relevant again
See this is where people misconstrue the whole situation. People forget this Hornets isn’t the old Hornets, the old Hornets in New Orleans.
he should open his own casino.
The only reason I can see him selling, is he has an offer to buy a more established team or he’s planning for a recession.
The NBA doesn’t recession. No other place to put his money will appreciate like the NBA.
Get the money now before it becomes worthless?
Nah that’s not the strategy here…
Most likely has an opportunity to buy into Seattle…
It’s the right move financially. NBA franchises are novelty assets that appreciate over time, but they make very little on an operating basis, and with little to no certainty. CHA lost money hand over fist for years, and its the reason Jordan had an opening to buy the team. So, while the appreciation of the franchise has made Jordan a billionaire, ironically, it’s that fact that now makes it imprudent for him to continue to own it, or at least the majority interest. If he were worth billions outside of the team, then it might be different.
I think Jordan was actually already a billionaire. Nike did that for him.
Jordan made all his money from Nike and he will for the rest of his life owning 5% of anything sold with his name on (so a lot!).
The hornets was nothing more than a hobby he took on to stoke his ego, it hasn’t gone great because he isn’t a FO guy. He’ll make a fat stack and he’ll move on. That’s business.
If he goes for another franchise though, I wouldn’t feel confident it’ll be any different without him stepping away from operations.
MJ as a player, he’s the GOAT ……. absolutely horrible as a team owner/executive.
Nike made him a billionaire. And he still has a piece of it.
link to google.com