Former MLB icon Alex Rodriguez has agreed to purchase 40% of the National Basketball Association’s Minnesota Timberwolves from the former member of the Minnesota State Senate, Glen Taylor. The talk on the street asserts that Rodriguez will show up with the money by this month’s deadline.
The baseball shortstop is not planning to buy all by himself but he is pairing up with his billionaire business partner Marc Lore for this million-dollar deal. The two are said to make the part of the payment, which is worth $250 million, on or before March 28.
However, the entire will cost them a fortune as the business partners will have to stack $1.5 billion before the American billionaire business magnate, Taylor.
Apparently, the fund is ready to be transferred from the bank as a representative of A-Rod and Lore said in a statement on Tuesday.
Although the entire business deal was initially a rumor, a team spokesperson confirmed that business pals have, in fact, entered into an exclusive letter of intent to purchase the basketball team.
They are in a bid to become the next potential owners of the Minnesota Timberwolves and seemingly, the pair is ready to offer the amount demanded by Glen Taylor. For the time being, A-Rod and Lore will engage in a limited partnership.
A source close to the parties said that Rodriguez and Lore had previously talked to at least one promising investor about the sale of a stake in the team for $3 billion. But the Phoenix Suns was later sold for a staggering $4 billion.
Apparently, the Timberwolf’s value has also heightened after the Suns were sold for a whopping sum. However, the situation still indicates that Timberwolves have not increased their value to an exorbitant extent.
Firstly, Rodriguez and his long-standing friend ponied up around $250 million in mid-2021 after dividing the deal into a three-step plan. As part of the agreement, initially, they only acquired 20% of the stake in the team but as per the agreed terms, they had the right to increase their stake to 40% by the end of March 2023 after making the necessary payment.
The deal was made in such a way that if the pair fails to make their second payment, which is due on March 28, then the current owner Glen Taylor has the complete authority to scrap the deal.
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Even if they happen to pay Taylor this time, they would still be one step away from owning a 40% stake in the Timberwolves. As per the source, Rodriguez and Lori have time until March 28, 2024, to secure the remaining amount which will ultimately make them the majority stakeholders of the team.
But Taylor can still choose to nullify the deal if the two make any delays in their installment as well.
Once A-Rod and Lori become the 40% stakeholders in the Minnesota Timberwolves, Taylor will still keep another 20% in his hand.
According to many reports, Rodriguez was struggling with financial issues when he had already made the initial payment to Taylor. When the merchandise deal was being discussed, the two friends decided to split the payment in half.
So each of them was supposed to contribute 50/50. But unfortunately, Rodriguez could only bring in 7% of the fund, whereas Lore managed the deal by adding an extra 3% together with his 10%. Although they went through certain ups and downs in the middle, they were adamant to pay the sum before the due date and they did exactly the same.
The American entrepreneur Lore is a pro in investment deals and he recently launched a food delivery business named Wonder. Although he had a master plan in his mind when he started it, to cook gourmet meals using Mercedes trucks, he slowly switched to a more traditional concept.
Meanwhile, A-Rod is in quite a trouble as he never reached a deal to buy ever since he founded his bank-check company, Slam, two years ago. Earlier this year, Rodriguez announced that investors representing the majority of the Slam’s stock had redeemed their shares, which ultimately reduced its value to $224 million in 2023.
According to the current NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, the sale of the Timberwolves has brought him dismay. He also picked up NBA player Kevin Garnett’s name who claimed on his social media that acquiring Twolves would not be his cup of tea anymore.
But the situation evoked astonishment in Taylor as he immediately replied to the post stating Garnett never approached him saying he was interested. Also, Taylor elucidated that the player’s name was neither on the list of potential buyers nor he had asked for a piece of financial information to review.
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