Tech investor Marc Stad is acquiring a controlling interest in the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves and the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx in a deal valued at $4.5 billion, sources close to the agreement told CNN on Friday.
It marks the second multibillion-dollar sale of a professional basketball organization this month, with the Los Angeles Lakers selling for a record-breaking $12.5 billion.
In Minnesota, the transaction marks the second ownership shift for the basketball clubs in just a little over a year. Stad, who is a founder of San Francisco-based investment firm Dragoneer Investment Partners, was a minority investor in a group — led by billionaire Marc Lore and former baseball player Alex Rodriguez — that bought the franchises from longtime owner Glen Taylor for $1.5 billion in a yearslong deal finalized last summer.
This latest transaction, with Stad acquiring the majority of Lore’s stake, has been months in the making, sources told CNN.
Rodriguez is expected to maintain his role in the ownership team and as governor of the Lynx. Stad will be joined at the ownership table with his wife, Elisa, who will serve as the Timberwolves’ governor, the sources confirmed to CNN.
