Michael Jordan recently dropped a bombshell on NBA fans after deciding to sell his prized majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets. The Chicago Bulls legend had been receiving a lot of flak regarding his failed tenure as an NBA owner, with the Hornets struggling to make it to the playoffs every season. After an underwhelming performance this season, His Airness has finally decided to call it quits. However, there are a lot of rumblings in NBA circles regarding the new owners and their ties with a $6.8 billion scandal. Amid speculations, one of the new owners’ early move with MJ before the scandal is set to make him millions.
According to a recent report by ESPN, Michael Jordan has been involved in genuine discussions to sell off his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets. The Chicago Bulls legend bought the stake in the team in 2010, which cost him $275 Million. However, he feels that his time with the team is over, and the ownership must be passed on to someone new.
Future Hornets owner’s early move with Michael Jordan set to fetch him millions
The new ownership table won’t have a single majority holder, but a pool of owners led by Gabe Plotkin and Richard Schnall. The Bulls legend is reportedly interested in converting a minority stake owned by Plotkin into a majority one.
Controversial millionaire Gabe Plotkin was the founder and CIO of Melvin Capital, a hedge fund that was involved in a controversial stock market chaos, the ‘GameStop short squeeze’ in January 2021. However, MJ and Gabe Plotkin’s business relationship started before the GameStop saga.
In fact, the Bulls legend sold a minority stake in the Hornets to Plotkin in June 2020. Since then a lot has changed for Plotkin and Melvin Capital, as they’ve lost $6.8 Billion and had to close shop last year. However, this early move in buying a minority share in the franchise has provided Plotkin the opportunity to have a bigger bite in the pie. The new ownership deal with Michael Jordan might be a lifeline for the former hedge fund owner.
Plotkin and co.’s $6.8 billion scandal
The major chaos in 2021 involved the publicly listed stock of GameStop, the popular retail gaming and trade-in stores. The company was not in a healthy financial state at one point, and hedge funds like Melvin Capital decided to bet against them. Lo and behold, a popular subreddit community r/wallstreetbets, noticed that these hedge funds had undervalued the company more than it should be.
It was a finding that led the subreddit to rally against the funds’ decision and buy GameStop’s stocks to counter what they considered as ‘Economic terrorism’. Many hedge funds were instantly hit as the stock skyrocketed, causing them huge losses. Melvin Capital lost 53% of its investment or $6.8 Billion, to be exact.
What do you think of the probable future owners of the Charlotte Hornets? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: essentiallysports.com
