Several investors in the Golden State Warriors are looking to sell their stake in the team — at a $7 billion valuation — but potential buyers are reportedly pushing back at the exorbitant figure.
The minority owners, who account for about a 10% stake, are soliciting bids for the NBA’s most successful franchise over the past decade, according to Bloomberg News.
However, a $7 billion valuation would put the San Francisco-based franchise on par with some of the most valuable teams in the world, including the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Commanders of the NFL and the Manchester United soccer club of the English Premier League.
Forbes, citing the team’s climbing revenues in recent years, has valued the Warriors at $7 billion, the first time in two decades that the Lakers or the Knicks have been supplanted as the NBA’s most expensive property.
The Warriors could not be immediately reached for comment.
“Per our organization policy, we do not comment on the potential sale or non-sale of ownership among our investment group,” a spokesperson for the team told Bloomberg News.
In July of last year, Chamath Palihapitiya, founder of venture capital firm Social Capital, announced that he unloaded his 10% stake in the team, which he bought in 2010 for $25 million.
At the time of the sale, the Warriors were valued by Forbes at $5.6 billion, which would mean Palihapitiya stood to make $560 million — a 2,140% return on his initial investment.
The value of the Warriors, who recently left their longtime home in Oakland for the money-generating Chase Center in downtown San Francisco, has skyrocketed since a group led by Joe Lacob bought the club for $450 million in 2010.
The Warriors have built a dynasty led by the team’s all-time leading scorer Steph Curry as well as his sharpshooting sidekick Klay Thompson and star forward Draymond Green. They won four NBA titles together.
The value of NBA teams has taken off in recent years as evidenced by Michael Jordan’s recent sale of a majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets.
Jordan pocketed $3 billion in selling controlling interest of the club to an investment group led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall.
Mat Ishbia, the founder of wholesale mortgage lender UWM Holdings, bought a majority stake in the Phoenix Suns last year for a record $4 billion.