Michael Jordan, owner of the Charlotte Hornets and one of the most famous athletes in the world, has agreed to sell his majority stake in the NBA team to a group led by private equity investors Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall.
The entire team was valued at $3 billion given the terms of the contract, according to a person familiar with the details, who was not authorized to discuss them publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The team didn’t disclose what percentage of its stake Jordan would sell in the sale’s announcement, but said it would remain a minority investor.
The acquiring group also includes country music star Eric Church and rapper J. Cole, both from North Carolina.
Jordan won six championships with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s and is considered by many to be the greatest basketball player of all time. A representative of Jordan did not respond to a request for comment.
Jordan, a native of North Carolina, bought the team for $275 million in 2010 when it was still known as the Bobcats.
He was the league’s first and only black majority owner, although most of the players are black men.
“I would like better representation in terms of chief governors,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a press conference ahead of the NBA Finals.
Silver said team owners have tried to bring diversity to their investment groups, noting that several former black players have joined ownership groups with smaller stakes, including David Robinson, Grant Hill, Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade.
NBA team valuations have skyrocketed lately and more owners were willing to sell. The sale of the Hornets will be the NBA’s third major change of ownership in the past year.
In December, a group led by Mat Ishbia acquired a controlling interest in the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury, including all shares owned by Robert Sarver, the former owner who was suspended by the league for widespread workplace misconduct. As part of the deal, Ishbia’s group also bought the shares of Dyal HomeCourt Partners, a group that was among the investors who bought Jordan’s stake in the Hornets. The deal valued the Suns and Mercury at $4 billion, according to people not authorized to speak publicly.
In April, former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry sold his stake in the Bucks to Cleveland Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam. The Bucks were valued at $3.5 billion under the deal, according to a person familiar with the deal.
The Hornets have only made the playoffs twice in the seasons since Jordan bought the team; Both times they lost in the first round.
They appeared to be on track to build around a young core that included Miles Bridges and LaMelo Ball. Bridges was a restricted free agent last summer, but the Hornets halted their plans to re-sign him after he failed to plead a domestic violence felony. The NBA suspended Bridges for 30 games without pay, 10 of which will be completed next season.
That season, the Hornets had the fourth-worst record in the league and second-worst in the Eastern Conference. They moved up two spots in the draft lottery and finished second in this month’s draft.