NFL owners unanimously approved the sale of the Seattle Seahawks to Vinod Khosla and his wife, Neeru. The enterprise value of the deal is an NFL-record $9.612 billion, with the $12 million top-off a likely nod to Seattle’s loud fan base known as the 12s.
The Super Bowl champion Seahawks’ price only trails a pair of deals for the Los Angeles Lakers among the most expensive sports control sales across sports. Last year, Mark Walter bought control of the Lakers at a $10 billion enterprise value, while this month, Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger agreed to buy the franchise for $12.5 billion, as Walter faces a pair of federal probes tied to insurance companies he controls.
Neeru will serve as the team’s control owner, and their son, Neal, will also have a leadership role in the team, according to a memo the NFL sent last month to its clubs, a copy of which was viewed by Sportico.
Khosla’s group beat out a handful of other bidders, including a group led by billionaire Aditya Mittal, a Boston Celtics stakeholder and a member of one of India’s richest families. Sportico was first to report on Khosla’s interest back in May.
The Indian-born Khosla came to the U.S. in his early 20s. He earned an MBA from Stanford and co-founded Sun Microsystems in 1982. His VC career started at Kleiner Perkins, and he launched Khosla Ventures in 2004. His firm’s notable exits include Affirm, Opendoor and DoorDash. He is worth $13.4 billion, according to Forbes.
