Report: Ballmer bids 2 billion to buy Clippers.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/report--former-microsoft-ceo-steve-ballmer-to-buy-los-angeles-clippers-for-nba-record--2-billion-234227311.html


Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has reportedly won the bidding to buy the Los Angeles Clippers, submitting an NBA-record-setting offer of $2 billion to purchase the team from owners Donald and Shelly Sterling, according to James Rainey of the Los Angeles Times:

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 [bid] $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.

Also this.

Seattle Clippers, coming right up

Baller? The kid that got beat up by a swan?

I guess he is loaded.

Sterling will pay more in capital gains taxes on this sale than anyone has ever paid for an NBA team. And the previous record sale price was set this month.

Mac-level sale.

Signed,
Beats

Guess my bid of $1500 fell short.

Come on John Tesh, "Roundballmer Rock" writes itself!

That seems... excessive.

gHost Spartan wrote:How is this even possible? The Clippers are historically one of the worst pro franchises in modern history. $2 billion? Seriously?   

Huge media market, starting to attract big name players, one of the most marketable players (Griffin) in NBA history already...

Plus, the only reason they've been such a shitty franchise is because Sterling was such a useless fucking owner.

Sterling wins in this situation. Wow.

gHost Spartan wrote:

I still can't comprehend how a shitty, fanless, NBA team is worth $2 billion. It's fucking mind boggling.

Right. Ballmer doesn't even get the stadium or the surrounding land, just te basketball team.

That guy can't do anything right, fucking idiot.

With the new CBA the Clippers will probably make at least $10 million a year. So it won't take him long to make back $2,000,000,000.

TheBobcat wrote:Seattle Clippers, coming right up

For that price, I don't think they will be moving from L.A.

Don't feel like reading through the Sterling thread on tRCMB again, but weren't there people saying that there was no way the team would sell for more than $1 billion?

WBill wrote:

For that price, I don't think they will be moving from L.A.

I don't think you pay $2 billion for the Clippers because you think you're going to get good ROI.   In all likelihood he probably won't move them, but its just bizarre that a year ago he was part of group with a $550 million deal to buy the Kings and move them to Seattle, then all of a sudden throws 4x that amount at the Clippers all by his lonesome.  

The Kings deal obviously fell through, because that group made the major error of being transparent about the relocation plans and David Stern hates Seattle.  Who knows what backdoor things went into this deal but for the price you'd have to think that there's more to it.

Dr Draymond wrote:Don't feel like reading through the Sterling thread on tRCMB again, but weren't there people saying that there was no way the team would sell for more than $1 billion?

Well, the last and highest comparable sale were the Bucks for 550 million. Not sure how anyone could predict there would be 3 bidders over 1 billion.

WBill wrote:

Well, the last and highest comparable sale were the Bucks for 550 million.  Not sure how anyone could predict there would be 3 bidders over 1 billion.

Bill Simmons did back in April, before the Sterling mess occurred:

Column on the rising ownership price of NBA teams

Excerpt:

"So, if Milwaukee is worth $550 million, then what’s everyone else worth? I spent the past 10 days asking various People Who Know Things that question. The consensus: Both the Lakers and Knicks would fetch Dodgers money (more than $2 billion, easy). It would take something in the $1.7 billion range just to grab Jerry Reinsdorf’s attention for a Chicago conversation, or for Donald Sterling to string you along for the Clippers before turning you down. Mark Cuban (Dallas), Micky Arison (Miami) and Wyc Grousbeck (Boston) aren’t listening unless the conversation starts at $1.3 billion. And Lacob and Harris would double their Warriors and Sixers investments from four years ago. Easily."

Edit: And from Simmons's post-Sterling column:

"Silver wants to find a different Clippers owner as soon as possible, knowing that a cluster of deep-pocketed suitors are waiting to bid on them. Adding Lob City, Hollywood and the second-biggest TV market to every other owner-friendly factor I described in this space two weeks ago, I can’t imagine the Clippers fetching less than $1.5 billion."

This guy's gonna be great. You know he's gonna be the hands-on, loose canon type of owner. Might even watch games with the fans wearing t-shirts and cheering his balls off.

WBill wrote:

Well, the last and highest comparable sale were the Bucks for 550 million.  Not sure how anyone could predict there would be 3 bidders over 1 billion.

Because if you're a 60-something billionaire and you've seen half the league change hands in the past decade, you realize the Clippers might be your last shot at owning a franchise. Now throw in the fact that we're talking about the second biggest market in the league (which also has a huge concentration of billionaires) and having Blake Griffin (one of the most marketable players in the league) and someone was always going to go big.

The average person shouldn't be surprised. Most of us knew that Sterling was likely to transfer his ownership to another bidder at some point. Also this isn't the Milwaukee Bucks we're talking about. This is the LA Market in the most populous state in the US. Regardless of the current state of the Clippers, there's a lot of upside and potential to this deal.

This should also serve as another reminder that the market place doesn't start where feelings begin. I think we should all be content knowing that's the case.

Good for Sterling and I hope he lives out the rest of his days in peace.

Gob Bluth wrote:

Sterling is now going to make a pile of money. At his age it means nothing. He can give piles of cash to his kids, but he can't buy 20 more years to get to know his grandkids.

gHost Spartan wrote:Here's my question: IF you gave the Clippers away, FREE, then how long would it take to earn $2 billion? Unless you're a very long term investor I don't see how a deal like this makes any sense at all.

Dude this is not about investmemt it's about I'm sixty with more money than god, the. e clips are for sale and Im tired of fucking around. I bid 2 billion,with a B, now give me the fuckin keys

gHost Spartan wrote:Here's my question: IF you gave the Clippers away, FREE, then how long would it take to earn $2 billion? Unless you're a very long term investor I don't see how a deal like this makes any sense at all.

You're assuming that Ballmer is in this to make money. The guy's worth 20 billion and this might be the last NBA team for sale in the next 5 years. He wants in the club of 30 owners and was willing to make the ultimate eff you offer just to ensure he bought in.