Gabe Plotkin (Wikipedia Commons)
Basketball icon Michael Jordan has declared his intention to relinquish his controlling ownership of the Charlotte Hornets basketball team in the NBA. He plans to sell it to a consortium fronted by Jewish individuals Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall, with the estimated value of the deal being around $3 billion.
Plotkin, with an approximate net worth of $400 million, established the investment management company Melvin Capital, named in homage to his grandfather. The company, formerly valued at approximately $8 billion, declared its closure the previous year.
The company participated in the GameStop short squeeze in 2021, causing Plotkin and other firms to lose billions of dollars. While testifying in front of the House Financial Services Committee, Plotkin mentioned receiving anti-Semitic messages from Reddit forum members who attempted to support the video game store by purchasing its stocks. Plotkin has been recognized by the Chabad-Lubavitch movement and has previous experience working with the Young Jewish Professionals networking group.
In 2019, Plotkin obtained a small ownership percentage in the Hornets basketball team and has been acting as a substitute governor for the NBA Board of Governors. Included in the agreement, Jordan will continue to hold a minority ownership stake in the team.
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Schnall, who is one of the co-presidents at a private equity firm, is presently a minority proprietor of the Atlanta Hawks. He has additionally served as an alternate governor on the NBA Board of Governors and is currently in the midst of divesting his ownership interest in the Hawks.
This sale has occurred only a few months after two well-known Jewish entrepreneurs acquired professional sports franchises. Mat Ishbia, who is a billionaire, purchased NBA and WNBA teams in Phoenix, while Josh Harris is in the process of buying the NFL’s Washington Commanders from the troubled Jewish owner, Dan Snyder.
(Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)
In 2010, Jordan, who is widely regarded as the best basketball player of all time, bought the Hornets for $275 million, making him the sole African American majority owner in the league.
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Gabe Plotkin, a wealthy Jewish individual who was implicated in the GameStop controversy, has acquired the Charlotte Hornets basketball team from Michael Jordan, as reported by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
