A pair of venture capitalists recently submitted a $3 billion offer to buy the Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, according to Marc Vartabedian of The Wall Street Journal.
The offer was made by Jack Selby, managing director of the Thiel Capital investment firm, which was founded by tech mogul Peter Thiel, and Jason Pressman, managing director of Shasta Ventures. Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal, among other companies, could also provide financing for the purchase, Vartabedian reports.
Selby and Pressman had a meeting in Phoenix last Wednesday with some of the Suns’ top officials and got a tour of the team’s arena and practice facility, Vartabedian adds. They are one of several groups that are hoping to buy the team, and second-round bids are due in January.
The $3 billion offer would be the second-highest purchase price ever for an NBA franchise, trailing only the $3.3 billion that Joe Tsai paid for the Nets in 2019.
The Suns were put up for sale after the NBA suspended owner Robert Sarver for a year and fined him $10MM following an investigation into inappropriate workplace conduct. He purchased the team in 2004 for $401MM, which was a record price at the time.
Team vice chairman Sam Garvin said over the weekend that Sarver will seek a buyer who plans to keep the team in Phoenix.
Lol Peter Thiel awesome. Zero percent chance the league allows it but awesome.
If the sale is completed for $3 billion, that means the $10 million fine will be 3/10 of one percent of the sale price…
Haha right I think he might of dropped that change on the way to the bank lol
401 mil in 2004 turned into 3 bill in 2022 that’s just crazy
Yeah boy Sarver must really be feeling sorry for his misbehavior.
hopefully hes 2600% sorry like hes $2600 million richer than in 2004