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Michael Jordan Has Sold Majority Stake In The Charlotte Hornets To A Investment Group That Includes Rapper J Cole
(CHARLOTTE, NC) Business News: On Friday, June 16, a press release confirmed the sale of the Charlotte Hornets to a group of investors, which includes big names such as country superstar Eric Church and rapper J. Cole.
The North Carolina natives are part of an investment group that has agreed to purchase a majority stake in the team from basketball legend Michael Jordan.
The group is led by Gabe Plotkin, a hedge fund founder who already owns a minority stake in the Hornets, and Rick Schnall, who owns a small piece of the Atlanta Hawks.
Schnall is in the process of selling his investment in the Hawks, which is expected to be completed in the next several weeks.
The group also includes Chris Shumway, Dan Sundheim, Ian Loring, Dyal HomeCourt Partners, and several local Charlotte investors, including Amy Levine Dawson and Damian Mills.
As part of the transaction, which is subject to league approval, Jordan will retain a minority ownership share of the team.
Chicago Bulls legend Jordan paid $275million for a majority stake in the franchise in 2010.
He stands to make a significant profit, with the Hornets sale valuing the team at $3billion, according to ESPN.
Grammy-winning rap artist J .Cole has long been a basketball fan and recently played for a number of teams.
A former high school player and walk-on for the St. John’s men’s basketball team, he has played for the Scarborough Shooting Stars in the Canadian Elite Basketball League as well as the the Rwanda Patriots of the Basketball Africa League.
In a 2013 interview with Sports Illustrated, he said: “I was always in love with basketball as a kid, but I thought I was way better than I really was.”
J. Cole’s participation in the BAL in 2021 drew much criticism, however.
“For a guy who has so much money and has another career to just come here and average, like, one point a game and still get glorified is very disrespectful to the game,” AS Sale guard Terrell Stoglin told ESPN.
“It’s disrespectful to the ones who sacrificed their whole lives for this.”
Church is such a big basketball fan that he upset a number of fans in April 2022 after canceling a San Antonio concert so he could watch the University of North Carolina Tar Heels compete in the NCAA’s Final Four basketball tournament