Former Major League Baseball player Alex Rodriguez and Jet.com founder Marc Lore are buying the Minnesota Timberwolves, the basketball team said. The deal may be valued at about $1.5 billion, ESPN reported, citing sources who weren’t identified.
The two have an exclusive letter of intent to buy the National Basketball Association team from owner Glen Taylor. Based on the agreement, Rodriguez and Lore will initially join the team as limited partners.
“The deal structure will initially entail a limited partnership stake with a pathway to controlling ownership of the organization,” the team said in the statement.
Rodriguez said about two months ago that he’s looking for deals after Slam Corp., his special purpose acquisition company or SPAC, started trading. Last year, the former Yankees all-star lost a bid for the New York Mets baseball team to billionaire Steve Cohen.
Lore, a former Walmart Inc. executive and founder of Jet.com, is a special adviser to Slam. The architect of Walmart’s digital operations, Lore joined the retailer after it bought his startup for $3.3 billion in 2016, before retiring in January.
Taylor, who bought the team for about $88 million, had been looking to sell the franchise he’s owned since 1994, Spotico reported in July.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.
