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Michael Jordan’s 13-year tenure as majority owner of the Charlotte Hornets is coming to an end.
The long-rumored sale of the Charlotte Hornets is finally a reality. Michael Jordan, who owns majority stakes in the Hornets, is selling his shares to Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
The new majority owners of the Hornets both come from the financial sector. Plotkin founded Melvin Capital in 2014. If the name sounds familiar to some of you, his name is now forever linked to the Game Stop meme stock that dominated the news a few years ago. To make a long story short, Melvin Captial was one of the major hedge funds to hold short positions in Game Stop.
They were banking on Game Stop losing money, but as the saying goes, we all know what happens next. Game Stop stocks soared to all-time highs, and Melvin Captial lost billions of dollars and eventually shut down.
Rick Schnall has a less eventful past. He is a Clayton, Dubilier & Rice partner and leads their financial services and technology team. Schnall is already part of another ownership team in the NBA. Schnall is a minority owner of the Atlanta Hawks.
Another interesting note Marc Stein brought up is that hip-hop superstar JCole will be part of the ownership team as a minority owner.
The Hornets announce that Michael Jordan will retain a minority ownership share in the team after the reported $3 billion sale of the franchise … with J. Cole also part of the new ownership group led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall.
More NBA from me: https://t.co/A6ycVmnrjq https://t.co/gmJIR0BTph
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 16, 2023
Jordan has owned a majority stake in the Hornets for 13 years, and to say it has been a less-than-stellar 13 years is an understatement. Jordan initially was a minority owner in 2010 and eventually became the majority owner by buying out the previous owner Robert Johnson who started Black Entertainment television. Side note Johnson would later say in an interview he regretted selling the team to Jordan not because of anything Jordan did or said but because of how much sports teams appreciate over the years.
Even though Jordan is in for a massive payday in his selling of the Hornets (evaluation is $3 billion, and Jordan bought the team for $275 million), that is where the success stops, as the Hornets have only made the playoffs twice and lost in the first round both times. They haven’t made the playoffs since the 2015-16 season and have been one of the worst franchises in Jordan’s tenure. Jordan will retain a minority stake in the team but will likely not be part of the day-to-day operations.
The Charlotte Hornets have the second overall pick, and right now, there isn’t a consensus on who they will pick, but whoever they pick, the team will be under new ownership this coming season.
