Billionaire Antony Ressler has reached an agreement to purchase the Atlanta Hawks for less than $1 billion. It's the NBA's third franchise sale in the last year, joining the ownerships of the Los Angeles Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks. Former NBA star Grant Hill will be a part of the ownership group.
Hawks finalizes sale agreement to Antony Ressler for less than $1 billion
Ressler’s group also includes former NBA star and current TNT analyst Grant Hill.
Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
The Hawks announced the sale during Game 2 of the team’s first round playoff series against the Brooklyn Nets. The NBA board of governors unanimously approved it in late June:
Ressler, 55, has co-founded a pair of successful private equity firms, Apollo Global Management and Ares Management, and is a minority owner in the Milwaukee Brewers. Based in Los Angeles, he’s worth roughly $1.43 billion, according to Forbes.
The team is being sold by current Hawks majority owner Bruce Levenson, who put the team on the market last year after the rash of controversies that surrounding the team. Reports detailing a racist email and other racially charged correspondence between team officials led to ownership seeking to sell the team.
Ressler will now get the chance to join the exclusive group of NBA team owners. He reportedly was a finalist to buy the Clippers last year before former Microsoft executive Steve Ballmer bought them for $2 billion, and now will get the Hawks at a significantly lower price tag. It’ll still likely be well above the $550 million that the Bucks sold for last year, however.
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