Michael Jordan set to sell majority stake in NBA team Charlotte Hornets for $4.37 billion

Michael Jordan might just be the savviest business figure in sport, and the eye-watering figure on his latest sale proves exactly why he’s called the Greatest of All Time.

(FILES) Former NBA star and owner of Charlotte Hornets team Michael Jordan looks on as he addresses a press conference ahead of the NBA basketball match between Milwakuee Bucks and Charlotte Hornets at The AccorHotels Arena in Paris on January 24, 2020. Basketball legend Michael Jordan will sell his majority stake in NBA's Charlotte Hornets to an investment consortium, the team announced June 16, 2023. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP)

Michael Jordan’s time as majority owner of the Charlotte Hornets is coming to an end.

The NY Post reports the sale of the Hornets is in the process of being finalised to a group led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall, the NBA team announced, coming at a reported $4.37 billion valuation.

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The report said the new owners will take over once the NBA completes its vetting process.

Jordan had owned the franchise in North Carolina, the state where he grew up, for 13 years, and will remain a minority owner.

Jordan bought his original stake in the franchise for a reported $558 million, and will sell for about five times that figure, despite the Hornets not getting out of the first round of the playoffs in the entire term of his ownership.

Plotkin led Melvin Capital, the hedge fund that shut down after it was besieged by losses while shorting GameStop during the meme stock craze.

He had been a minority owner of the Hornets since 2020.

Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan, left, shouts at an official during a game against the Washington Wizards. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

Schnall, currently in the process of selling his minority stake in the Atlanta Hawks, and is the co-president of the private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.

The purchasing group also includes include Dan Sundheim, Ian Loring, Dyal HomeCourt Partners, North Carolina natives recording artist J. Cole and country music singer-songwriter Eric Church, and several local Charlotte investors, including Amy Levine Dawson and Damian Mills.

Jordan was first reported to be in “serious talks” to sell a majority stake in the Hornets to Plotkin and Schnall back in March

The Hornets finished 27-55 this past season, the second-worst record in the NBA’s Eastern Conference.

They have missed the playoffs for seven straight years (albeit making the play-in tournament last season as the 10th seed in the conference), and never won a postseason round during Jordan’s 13-year tenure as owner.

The franchise had hoped to get lucky in the 2023 NBA Draft lottery, where presumptive top pick Victor Wembanyama looms as a generational prospect, but instead the Spurs got the first pick in the Draft and the Hornets will be selecting second overall.

There have been rumours, first speculated by Shams Charania at FanDuel, that the Pelicans could be interested in trading former first overall pick Zion Williamson to the Hornets for the second pick, which is presumed to be Scoot Henderson, who played last season for the G League Ignite.

Jordan won six NBA championships as a player with the Bulls in the 1990s.

This article originally appeared in The New York Post and was reproduced with permission.