Prospective Suns Owners

[Indy]

As a Premier league fan saudi money is very much spend and stay outta everyone's way. It's not that bad. Definitely expect results though.

I'd prefer to stay away from Saudi money. Their "skeletons" are a notch or two above berating employees.

So long as they don't mettle in decisions and aren't just outrageous blatant asshats I don't really care about where the money comes from. Just wanna win.

You were ready to walk because Sarver created a hostile work environment but don't care if your owners fund terrorism, oppress/behead women and murder journalists?

Not everyone in SA does that lol.

The billionaires do.

[TOO]

I'd prefer to stay away from Saudi money. Their "skeletons" are a notch or two above berating employees.

So long as they don't mettle in decisions and aren't just outrageous blatant asshats I don't really care about where the money comes from. Just wanna win.

You were ready to walk because Sarver created a hostile work environment but don't care if your owners fund terrorism, oppress/behead women and murder journalists?

Not everyone in SA does that lol.

The billionaires do.

Welp. Then I'd rather not have that as an owner, ho hum.

[Superbone]

So...who's ready to go from Sarver to Trump?

That would be the one thing that would make me leave 47 years of Phoenix Suns fandom behind.

[Flagrant Fowl]

I don't think the NBA would ever approve of a foreign sovereign wealth fund running a franchise.

I'd honestly be surprised if they ever approve of someone like Mikhail Prokhorov again and he's merely an oligarch.

[Superbone]

I think Bob Iger would my choice out of the proposed new owners thus far.

[Superbone]

[The Bobster]

I think Bob Iger would my choice out of the proposed new owners thus far.

It would have to be a situation where he assembles a partnership that names him managing partner - he doesn't have the money himself to acquire majority interest.

That said, we've seen that twice before with both Colangelo and Sarver.

[Split T]

For what it’s worth, Bill Simmons called the suns one of the top 8 franchises to own in the nba and thinks they go for 4-5 billion.

[Flagrant Fowl]

Is it possible for current minority owners to be a part of the next ownership group?

[specialsauce]

Jeff Bezos it up.

I just want someone willing to spend a ton and get out of the way.

I don’t want someone with a small wallet. Iger isn’t even a billionaire. Pass.

[Split T]

Is it possible for current minority owners to be a part of the next ownership group?

They have to sell their minority stake, but yes. That’s what Joe Lacob did.

[Flagrant Fowl]

Is it possible for current minority owners to be a part of the next ownership group?

They have to sell their minority stake, but yes. That’s what Joe Lacob did.

Interesting. I assumed it's possible but my dumbass can't foresee how that would work as it seems they'd just be buying/selling from themselves.

[specialsauce]

I don’t want Najafi. The Suns have been cheap as hell and he’s been a part of the ownership, so why would he suddenly change?

[Split T]

As a minority owner I’m not sure he had a ton of say. He’s worth significantly more than Sarver

[Flagrant Fowl]

I don’t want Najafi. The Suns have been cheap as hell and he’s been a part of the ownership, so why would he suddenly change?

Yeah that's been my guess at reading between the lines on his statement about not wanting to be the managing partner. He's not into putting that much of his cash into the franchise.

[The Bobster]

Is it possible for current minority owners to be a part of the next ownership group?

Suns' minority owners? Very easily. If Sarver's share is the only share sold they could all stay.

They could also organize their own group to buy out their partners and become managing partner or majority owner. Or even stay a minority owner.

[Superbone]

I thought there should be a thread listing the individuals who are considered likely candidates to be interested in bidding on the team -

Jeff Bezos, 58, Seattle - Amazon/President & CEO - $148.1 billion net worth
Larry Ellison, 78, Hawaii - Oracle Corporation/CEO - $97.3 billion net worth
Phil Knight, 84, Portland - Nike/Chairman emeritus - $41.9 billion net worth
MacKenzie Scott, 52, Seattle - MacKenzie Scott Foundation/philanthropist - $36.8 billion net worth
Laurene Powell-Jobs, 58, Malibu - Emerson Collective/Chair - $12.6 billion net worth
Jahm Najafi, 59, Phoenix - Najafi Companies/CEO - $3.5 billion net worth
Bob Iger, 71, Los Angeles - Disney/former CEO - $690 million net worth

Jerry Colangelo, 82, Phoenix - Former Suns owner - $320 million net worth

Nope. He had his shot. And then he stuck us with Sarver. And I won’t get into his political leanings here.

[Superbone]

I too am interested in purchasing the team.

May I join your group?

Someone’s gotta be the money man.

OK, I’m in for $100,000. Now we just need approximately 27,499 more investors at that amount.

[Mori Chu]

Maybe we can raise some money by trading away our starting center plus two 1st-round draft picks for cash.

[Superbone]

► Show Spoiler

Robert Sarver’s Phoenix Suns Will Be Sold For At Least $2.5 Billion, Bankers Say
Mike OzanianForbes Staff
Sep 21, 2022,03:41pm EDT

Robert Sarver is about to make a killing on the Phoenix Suns.

Last week, the NBA suspended Sarver for a year and fined him $10 million as a result of a league investigation that found he had committed racist and misogynist conduct that violated workplace standards.

Sarver, who owns about 35% of the Suns, announced today that he plans to sell the team, which he purchased in 2004 for $401 million. The Suns will likely fetch at least $2.5 billion, according to sports bankers contacted by Forbes. A year ago, Forbes valued the Suns at $1.8 billion, 18th out of the league’s 30 teams.

At roughly eight times 2021-22 revenue, a price of $2.5 billion might seem too rich. It would give the Suns the second-highest sale price in NBA history, behind the $3.2 billion Joe Tsai paid for the Brooklyn Nets in 2019. But think about this: Last month, the Utah Jazz were valued at $2.4 billion in a minority-interest sale—nine times revenue.

True, the Jazz own Vivint Arena while the city of Phoenix owns the Suns’ Footprint Center. But the Suns control the master lease to their recently renovated arena, which means they control the economics. In addition, the Phoenix metro market has 5 million people; Salt Lake City has just 1.2 million.

Another winner in the sale will be private-equity firm Dyal HomeCourt Partners, which acquired a less-than-5% stake in the Suns in July 2021. The deal placed a minority-discount valuation of $1.55 billion on the team and a controlling-interest valuation of about $1.8 billion. The $1.55 billion minority-interest deal with Dyal and the Suns was priced back before the end of 2020 even though it was announced in July 2021.