The great Michael Jordan has sold a minority share of his ownership of the Charlotte Hornets. According to sports business expert Darren Rovell, the Chicago Bulls legend appears to have sold some of his shares for a significant profit, but still remains as the majority owner of the franchise:
Sources: Michael Jordan sold his undisclosed minority piece of the Charlotte Hornets based on a $1.5 Billion valuation. Jordan bought the team 9 1/2 years ago based on a $280 million valuation (65% for $180M) and initially only put up $30 million cash. pic.twitter.com/PfOWL3SN7y
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) September 20, 2019
The thing we need to focus on here the most is probably how much exponential growth this team's value has experienced in the past decade. Now valued at a whopping $1.5 billion, the Hornets franchise has increased its value by roughly 538% over the past nine and a half years. For Jordan, this only means that his investment has likewise grown by a significant amount. His initial 65% ownership is now valued at $975 million.
According to Rovell, Jordan still remains the majority owner of the team, which means that he could not have sold more than 14% of his share, in order for him to retain majority control at at least 51% ownership. If this was the case, then Jordan could be looking at about $210 million in terms of this sale.
This was a pretty smart move from Jordan, considering how he will be earning a ton of income while still maintaining majority control of a team that he has pretty much built from the ground up. With the recent departure of former cornerstone superstar Kemba Walker, though, it appears Charlotte is back to square one, which might have been one of Jordan's primary motivations in selling part of his stake in the organization.
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