Earlier this week it came out that Shelly Sterling was trying to quickly sell the Clippers and had a secret meeting with former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Now according to Forbes, Ballmer’s offer has come in at a cool $1.8 BILLION:
Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has offered $1.8 billion for the Los Angeles Clippers, according to a person familiar with Ballmer’s interest in the NBA team. Ballmer, who retired as Microsoft’s CEO four months ago has a net worth of $20 billion. Another source, with intimate knowledge of the bids that Rochelle Sterling has thus far received for the basketball team, said offers have come in between $1 billion and $2 billion and that the Ballmer package is strong.
It is still early in the bidding process for the Clippers and it is quite possible that the price could go higher, especially if interested parties join forces to buy the team. Still, I must tip my hat to Bill Simmons, who predicted at the end of April that the basketball team would fetch $1.75 billion. Donald Sterling bought the Clippers in June, 1981 for $12.5 million. NBA owners are voting June 3 to force he and his wife Rochelle to sell the team due to racist comments made by him in private that were taped and subsequently made public.
There are many people saying that Ballmer is the front runner to acquire the team at this point. I don’t think we will pass the $2B mark for the team but $1.8B seems in the neighborhood of where I think this thing will end up.