14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft's former CEO Steve Ballmer, who's known as an avid basketball fan, is again trying to take over an NBA team, this time for as much as $2 billion (€1.5 billion), according to reports.
It appears that Steve Ballmer, who was previously involved in takeover talks of some other basketball teams, has already met with Shelly Sterling, the wife of Clippers owner Donald Sterling, to discuss the deal.
Donald Sterling, who bought the Clippers in June, 1981 for no less than $12.5 million (€9.17 million), is forced to sell the team due to some racist comments that were recently made public. He is already holding talks with several interested bidders, but Ballmer is said to be offering on the strongest deals, sources pointed out.
Steve Ballmer, who hasn't provided too many details about this new deal, says that he doesn't want to relocate the Clippers to Seattle, as some people have previously said, but instead wants it to keep the team in the City of Angels.
He competes in the takeover talks with some pretty unexpected names, including Oprah Winfrey, former NBA player Yao Ming, who's reportedly backed by a Chinese investment group, and the David Geffen and Larry Ellison duo.
If Steve Ballmer reaches an agreement with Sterling, he can become the second Microsoft boss that owns his own basketball team. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is currently the owner of the Portland Trailblazers, a team that became a lot more attractive for NBA players following the acquisition thanks to the big budget offered by Bill Gates' former colleague.
In case you're wondering, Steve Ballmer does afford such a takeover, as his current net worth is estimated at $20 billion (€14.6 billion). And still, people close to the matter indicate that Ballmer might not be alone in his efforts to buy the Clippers, so the former Microsoft boss could actually be part a larger group of investors also covering part of the investment.
As far as Ballmer's fortune is concerned, the man who was replaced by Satya Nadella at the helm of Microsoft in February 2014 is currently the largest individual stakeholder at the software giant. Founder Bill Gates recently sold some of the shares he owns at Microsoft, turning Ballmer into the number one investor.
Ballmer hasn't yet commented on the Clippers' acquisition, but given his passion for basketball, we're pretty sure that there's some truth behind these words and Microsoft's former CEO is at least considering a takeover.