Noel Vasquez/GC Images Steve Ballmer attends an NBA playoff game between the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center on April 29. That’s $ 2 billion with an uppercase B!
Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has apparently won the bidding war Thursday for the Los Angeles Clippers with a staggering $ 2 billion offer for the NBA franchise, according to the L.A. Times.
The frenzied battle to get the team from Sterling drove the franchise’s price sky high for a team that Forbes estimated was worth at $ 575 million in January of 2014.
The franchise has been in turmoil since owner Donald Sterling was recorded on tape by an associate making racist comments about Magic Johnson, among others.
In short order, NBA commissioner Adam Silver slammed Sterling with an unprecedented lifetime ban for his remarks, imposed a $ 2.5 million fine, and ordered him to sell the Clippers.
Sterling’s wife, Shelly, who owns 50 percent of the team had been reviewing five bids for the franchise.
The Daily News reported on Friday that Sterling had decided to part with the team he bought for $ 12.5 million in 1981.
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Thursday’s report of the sale is an about face from recent events where Sterling vowed to fight to keep his team. His lawyer appeared on ESPN Tuesday saying his client “is going to fight to the bloody end” and had “disavowed” the agreement with his wife to sell the team. What a difference 48 hours makes.
To put the sale in perspective, the Dodgers were sold in May of 2012 for $ 2.1 billion, while the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars fetched $ 770 million when businessman Shahid Khan bought the team. The Milwaukee Bucks were the last NBA team to be sold, taking in a paltry $ 550 million last month in comparison.
According to the L.A. Times, the 58-year-old Ballmer, who is reportedly worth around $ 20 billion, apparently edged out groups led by L.A.-based investors Tony Ressler and Steve Karsh, as well as a group that included David Geffen and the Guggenheim Group, the owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
ANDREW GOMBERT/EPA NBA commissioner Adam Silver bans Donald Sterling for life after a racist rant that is recorded by an associate is taped and made public. Enlarge 
Marcio Jose Sanchez/APThe Clippers famously protested Sterling’s racist remarks by wearing their warmups inside out during their playoff series with the Warriors.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver (l.) bans Sterling for life while his players (r.) hold their own silent protest during the 2014 NBA playoffs, wearing their warmup shirts inside out.
Sources told the L.A. Times that Geffen’s bid came in at $ 1.6 billion and Ressler at $ 1.2 billion.
The sale comes just days before NBA owners were set to meet Tuesday in New York and expected to vote Sterling out of the league.
The deal still needs approval from the other 29 NBA owners as well as the commissioner, which is expected.
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