Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is reportedly buying the Los Angeles Clippers NBA franchise for a staggering $2 billion. This is record money for an NBA franchise, the Clippers have been in the news lately, not because of their playoff heroics but because their (former) owner Donald Sterling hit headlines for making racist comments in a surreptitiously recorded conversation.
The NBA banned Sterling from attending any NBA game and pushed for the sale of the LA Clippers. Steve Ballmer took over from Bill Gates as CEO of Microsoft and led the company through a difficult transition period. He left Microsoft early this year and was replaced by Satya Nadella, who has already put his imprint on a number of major moves within Microsoft.
"I will be honored to have my name submitted to the NBA Board of Governors for approval as the next owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. I love basketball," Ballmer said in a statement. "And I intend to do everything in my power to ensure that the Clippers continue to win – and win big – in Los Angeles."
Sterling's camp pretty much sealed the deal with this comment. "I am delighted that we are selling the team to Steve, who will be a terrific owner. We have worked for 33 years to build the Clippers into a premiere NBA franchise. I am confident that Steve will take the team to new levels of success."
Ballmer follows in the sports team-owning footsteps of buddy and Microsoft icon Paul Allen who owns a stake in the Portland Trailblazers, Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Sounders FC franchises. Will Ballmer be a silent owner or will he be bombastic and controversial like the Dallas Maverick's Mark Cuban? Will Ballmer move the Clippers to Seattle, which has been starving for an NBA franchise since the Supersonics moved to Oklahoma and became the Thunder?
So did Steve Ballmer blow his nest egg on the Clippers? Not really, he is still part of the board and owns about 4 percent of Microsoft, worth $13.4 billion. So, yeah, he'll be okay.
Source: Reuters