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Phoenix Suns progressing in search for new team owner

Andrew Buller-Russ

According to the Sports Business Journal, a “handful of bidding groups” have reached the second round of examining their qualifications for purchasing the Suns.

Sarver, who owns 35% of the Suns, does have the power to sell the team in full. He also owns the rights to the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, which he’s also looking to sell, likely as part of the deal.

Ghost of Kleine wrote:https://sportsnaut.com/phoenix-suns-progressing-search-for-new-team-owner/

Phoenix Suns progressing in search for new team owner

Andrew Buller-Russ

According to the Sports Business Journal, a “handful of bidding groups” have reached the second round of examining their qualifications for purchasing the Suns.

Sarver, who owns 35% of the Suns, does have the power to sell the team in full. He also owns the rights to the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, which he’s also looking to sell, likely as part of the deal.

Bidding groups?!?!??
Does that mean there are currently no solitary wealthy billionaire owners currently involved in the process? I really hope that we don't get stuck with another fiscally inept meddling investment group with financial constraints and that might not be able to agree on important decisions.

Spoiler:

JDJ26 wrote:

Ghost of Kleine wrote:https://sportsnaut.com/phoenix-suns-progressing-search-for-new-team-owner/

Phoenix Suns progressing in search for new team owner

Andrew Buller-Russ

According to the Sports Business Journal, a “handful of bidding groups” have reached the second round of examining their qualifications for purchasing the Suns.

Sarver, who owns 35% of the Suns, does have the power to sell the team in full. He also owns the rights to the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, which he’s also looking to sell, likely as part of the deal.

Bidding groups?!?!??
Does that mean there are currently no solitary wealthy billionaire owners currently involved in the process? I really hope that we don't get stuck with another fiscally inept meddling investment group with financial constraints and that might not be able to agree on important decisions.

One of the bidding groups has a familiar face.

Spoiler:

ROB CONEYBEER
Managing Director

Rob is a co-founder of Shasta Ventures and a 24-year veteran of the venture capital industry. He focuses on investing in emerging platforms – Robotics, Space, Connected Hardware, and Transportation. His current Shasta investments include Doctor on Demand, Fetch Robotics, LawVu, Spire Global, Starship Technologies, Survios, Tonal, and Turo. Rob earned a Master of Science in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Virginia. He also holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was named a Palmer Scholar.

RAVI MOHAN
Managing Director

Ravi’s entire career has been focused exclusively on software businesses. He continues to work with passionate entrepreneurs who possess unique product and market perspectives that result in high growth companies. His areas of expertise include data and analytics, SaaS applications, infrastructure management. Ravi is a co-founder of Shasta and led the firm’s investments in and currently serves on the Boards of Lucidworks, Highspot, SendBird, LeanData, CommerceIQ, vFunction, Lightbend, Resilinc, Suplari and previously Anaplan, Apptio, Appsheet, Zenprise and Volometrix. Prior to Shasta, Ravi was a general partner at Battery Ventures and a member of the executive committee. He led eight investments and served on the boards of 12 software and technology-enabled service companies.

bwgood77 wrote:Peter Thiel is a co founder or PayPal and was CEO untl it's sale to eBay for $1.5 billion. He was also a securities lawyer, hedge and derivatives funds owner, one of first big investors in Facebook, acquiring over 10% of it in 2004 for $500K and sold most of them in 2012 for over $1 billion, bankrupted Gawker after they outed him as being gay, is a libertarian conservative who has contributing a lot of money to right wing causes and figures.

Funds non profits doing work in AI, Life extension and Seasteds.

He is Chairman of Palantir Technologies, which does Data Mining to help top terrorism and works with the government on unintrusive and traceable data mining. This has the financial backing of Q-Tel, a venture capital arm of the CIA.

Worth over $7 billion.

All from wikipedia.

Bogyo wrote:So whats the net worth of this group? I hope over 10-15 billion, and they take it seriously enough... Where its a sizeable investment for them, but not a matter of life and death as it was with Sarver. That way they focus on it, want it to be successful but not necessarily get too much involved in the day-to-day. The IT / data mining stuff might help as well...

Oh, and are they the buyers? Or front runners? Or one of the 1-2-3 groups who are serious about the deal?

lilfishi22 wrote:

Bogyo wrote:So whats the net worth of this group? I hope over 10-15 billion, and they take it seriously enough... Where its a sizeable investment for them, but not a matter of life and death as it was with Sarver. That way they focus on it, want it to be successful but not necessarily get too much involved in the day-to-day. The IT / data mining stuff might help as well...

Oh, and are they the buyers? Or front runners? Or one of the 1-2-3 groups who are serious about the deal?

For a few minutes, I thought you meant the member of this Suns forum

I think we have the collective net worth to purchase a WNBA team lol

grumpysaddle wrote:

lilfishi22 wrote:

Bogyo wrote:So whats the net worth of this group? I hope over 10-15 billion, and they take it seriously enough... Where its a sizeable investment for them, but not a matter of life and death as it was with Sarver. That way they focus on it, want it to be successful but not necessarily get too much involved in the day-to-day. The IT / data mining stuff might help as well...

Oh, and are they the buyers? Or front runners? Or one of the 1-2-3 groups who are serious about the deal?

For a few minutes, I thought you meant the member of this Suns forum

I think we have the collective net worth to purchase a WNBA team lol

That's probably pushing it. Maybe 10% of 10% of a WNBA team.

Numbers for the WNBA have been harder to pin down. In a story from The Athletic, Commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s math placed the average WNBA team value at more than $43.75 million.

lilfishi22 wrote:

grumpysaddle wrote:

lilfishi22 wrote:For a few minutes, I thought you meant the member of this Suns forum

I think we have the collective net worth to purchase a WNBA team lol

That's probably pushing it. Maybe 10% of 10% of a WNBA team.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2022/10/03/Opinion/Opinion.aspx

Numbers for the WNBA have been harder to pin down. In a story from The Athletic, Commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s math placed the average WNBA team value at more than $43.75 million.

Assuming low end might be in the ~$20m, I think the combined net worth of all members of this Suns forum is probably above that. I have nothing to back that up but just a feeling....

bwgood77 wrote:Peter Thiel is a co founder or PayPal and was CEO untl it's sale to eBay for $1.5 billion. He was also a securities lawyer, hedge and derivatives funds owner, one of first big investors in Facebook, acquiring over 10% of it in 2004 for $500K and sold most of them in 2012 for over $1 billion, bankrupted Gawker after they outed him as being gay, is a libertarian conservative who has contributing a lot of money to right wing causes and figures.

Funds non profits doing work in AI, Life extension and Seasteds.

He is Chairman of Palantir Technologies, which does Data Mining to help stop terrorism and works with the government on unintrusive and traceable data mining. This has the financial backing of Q-Tel, a venture capital arm of the CIA.

Worth over $7 billion.

All from wikipedia.

garrick wrote:

bwgood77 wrote:Peter Thiel is a co founder or PayPal and was CEO untl it's sale to eBay for $1.5 billion. He was also a securities lawyer, hedge and derivatives funds owner, one of first big investors in Facebook, acquiring over 10% of it in 2004 for $500K and sold most of them in 2012 for over $1 billion, bankrupted Gawker after they outed him as being gay, is a libertarian conservative who has contributing a lot of money to right wing causes and figures.

Funds non profits doing work in AI, Life extension and Seasteds.

He is Chairman of Palantir Technologies, which does Data Mining to help stop terrorism and works with the government on unintrusive and traceable data mining. This has the financial backing of Q-Tel, a venture capital arm of the CIA.

Worth over $7 billion.

All from wikipedia.

If Peter Thiel buys the Suns it will be worse than having Sarver continuing to own the Suns.

Peter Thiel is part of the paypal mafia who are ultra right wing conservatives that back Trump and other MAGA republicans that fanatics like Josh Hawley or Blake Masters. Hard pass on these guys owning the Suns.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/may/30/peter-thiel-republican-midterms-trump-paypal-mafia