It's not Michael Jordan's style to cede even an inch of control. So, the news came as a bit of a shock that MJ is selling off a large chunk of his NBA team, the Charlotte Hornets.
According to reports from the Charlotte Observer, Jordan agreed to sell a significant amount of equity the team to two New York-based investors. Gabe Plotkin and Daniel Sundheim will purchase massive shares of the Hornets, while Jordan will still retain a majority of the team. The deal has not yet been approved by the NBA, but a league source told the paper that the process is already underway.
Jordan has been majority owner of the franchise since 2010, when he paid Bob Johnson $180 million to take over the team from him. Johnson, the owner of the network BET, paid the league $300 million for the team in 2004. Part of the reason that Jordan was able to get the team for a relative steal was an agreement to assume the debt of the team when he took over.
Sundheim and Plotkin's share, as well as the price they paid for a piece of Charlotte, has not been shared. Both new stakeholders manage hedge funds with worths of over $3 billion. It's unclear if the new names in the room will have any effect on Jordan's penny-pinching style of running the Hornets, which recently cost the team a star in Kemba Walker. Neither of the fund managers have prior experience owning a team.
