Friday, May 30, 2014

LA Times: Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wins Clippers bidding war for $2 billion

"The Geffen group offered $1.6 billion and the Ressler-Karsh group $1.2 billion. People familiar with both those offers said they were rejected."
Ballmer and Clippers co-owner Shelly Sterling concluded a deal late Thursday afternoon. But Bobby Samini, an attorney for Donald Sterling, said as he left the team co-owner's home: "There's been no sale. There can be no sale without Donald's signature." (read more)
Last night's Insta reaction...
I WITHDRAW MY EARLIER SPECULATION THAT DONALD STERLING WAS SUFFERING FROM DEMENTIA: Sources: Ballmer agrees to buy Clippers for record $2 billion. In fact, now I wonder if he set the whole thing up. He bought the team for $12 million.
 Crazy like a fox?

39 comments:

edutcher said...

That was always my guess.

And this way, Sterling doesn't take a big financial hit.

AllenS said...

Steve Ballmer wins Clippers bidding war for $2 billion.

I dunno. Looks to me that he's the big loser.

Trooper York said...

The lesson in this is the rich always get richer.

Trooper York said...

I did enjoy the racist MSNBC commenter who said that it was terrible how these racist old white men were getting rich because of black athletes who should boycott the league or something. Sort of like how noted scholar and baby daddy Larry Johnson said that the black players should start their own league.

Now that would be something!

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The Biggest Loser...

AllenS strikes again.

Icepick said...

If the tax angle you pointed to this morning is correct, Lem, Sterling is a huge winner in this thing. "Oh, please please please hate me - so I can make two BILLION dollars tax free!"

Trooper York said...

The fact remains that this moron was forced to sell because of an illegal taping of his private conversations. Why is that ok?

Is this America or is this Russia. Or is Russia where you have to go for asylum or something.

Icepick said...

Trooper, in this case it is okay because of the contractual agreements that Sterling made with the NBA. I don't like how this is going down, but the NBA is within it's legal rights, most likely. Plus, the forced sale is (a) driving up the price of the franchise and (b) is possibly going to save Sterling $600,000,000 in taxes. (Which is about all the franchise is worth in my opinion, which obviously doesn't matter.)

TrooperYork said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Trooper York said...

I don't know Icepick. I think anybody should be able to say anything they want about anybody without losing their property.

I mean I thought losing Lèse-majesté was on of the reasons we stopped being British.

That and better dentistry.

Trooper York said...

Are there protected classes that we are not allowed to talk about? To say bad things about? To curse and mock and disparage?

What about freedom.

Do we live in America or the 17th century or something?

Donald Sterling is a douchebag but if you don't stand up for a douchebags rights then they will be coming for all of us. As they are. With the surveillance and the NSA and reading our e-mails and listening to our conversations where will it all end?

With you losing your house because of something you said in the privacy of your own home?

Trooper York said...

I don't know Icepick. I think anybody should be able to say anything they want about anybody without losing their property.

I mean I thought losing Lèse-majesté was on of the reasons we stopped being British.

That and better dentistry.

Icepick said...

Trooper, Sterling entered into a business partnership with other NBA owners. As part of that arrangement he signed away some rights for the benefit of the whole. (At least that's the reasoning.) He has most likely violated the terms of his contracts by bringing disrepute to himself. Therefore they can force him out.

There would be no such agreements for his home, unless he was fool enough to live in some sort of deed restricted area. (I think that's the term I want.) Even there it is unlikely that the terms of ownership of the house would include anything about his public utterances.

Sterling entered into contracts. As long as those contracts are met, I can't see a reason for the NBA and it's owners to stop what they're doing.

All that said, I still hope he goes after them in court. Discovery would be a blast, what with one owner having gangster associations and another basically being a gangster. And God only knows what else would come out. Ask some of the old men if they ever told fat jokes in junior high, or ever laughed when Richard Pryor used the n-word.

Icepick said...

Steer can say whatever he wants. But as a business owner he must be aware that if certain things get out it can adversely affect his business operations. Personally I think business boycotts are stupid, but they are a threat that others can use as part of THEIR rights of freedom of association. (At least as long as we are not talking about health insurance.)

edutcher said...

FWIW, there are those speculating Sterling was the real player and the broad who thought she was playing was the one who got played.

Wouldn't be surprised if there was some truth there.

Trooper York said...

There is a word for what the NBA is doing in its claim of business losses due to Sterling's words. The word is bullshit.

If they banned every person in professional sports who ever said the N word in a private conversation we would be left with Tim Tebow as the only professional athlete in the USA.

Trooper York said...

Why not ban the athletes who have seven different babies with seven different baby moma's? Why not force the Nets owner who is in the Russian Mafia to sell his team? Why not ban a dude who cheated on his wife and "obtained" a deadly sexually transmitted disease?

If you make private behavior the benchmark on your ability to be in the league than you have to ban everybody.

This was selective persecution in the name of political correctness. If you do not stand up for the most unlikeable victims of this bullshit then it will bite everyone in the ass. It is not something that we should support.

Trooper York said...

I will say this. I had season tickets to the Knicks for nineteen years. I went to the Garden on the average three times a week. I was a big fan of the game. I have been becoming more and more disenchanted with the league. I think this is the final straw for me.

I will no longer be a fan. I will no longer watch the games. It has gone a long way from the old Red Holzman Knicks. If they are going to do this kind of shit they should stick with people who think this is a good way to do business.

I know it doesn't matter in the scheme of things but I am going to stick to it.

Icepick said...

Why not ban the athletes who have seven different babies with seven different baby moma's?

Because the fans don't care about that. Just like the fans in Baltimore don't care about Ray Lewis helping two guys attempt to get away with murder. (That's what he admitted to in court. He almost certainly helped kill the two dead people. A guy like that wants to be in charge, which is why Aaron Hernandez was the gunman on at least three murders.)

But the fans just don't care about that stuff as long as it helps their team win. (Which is why Dems were happy to associate with a Klansman when he was one of their Senators.)

But a very large proportion of NBA fans are black, and an overwhelming number of players are black. And they hate hate hate the n-word. As long as it is said by someone that isn't black. They would be thrilled is self-proclaimed nigger Dr. Dre got to buy a team. Or any of the other rappers who drop the word all the time. But they won't play for Sterling now, and that's that.

Icepick said...

The NBA has been dead to me for years and years. The league office only caress about four franchises: the Celtic and Lakers because they're the two big brands, the NY Knicks because they're in New York City*, and whichever team has the player with the biggest contract from NIKE. Everyone else can go to Hell, and you see that over and over again.

The shock was that Stern screwed the Lakers on the CP3 deal, helping the Clippers instead. But that is a rarity. Every other team is just a feeder for the other four.

Sure, occassionally a Dallas can win a championship, or a Houston or San Antonio. But that's mostly accidents of the draft, when a player happens to end up someplace he really likes (E.g. Nowitski, Olajuwon, Duncan) and others decide to follow. Mostly, very other team may as well be the Charlotte Bobcats.

* And yes, they've stunk for a long time now. But the super rich James Dolan is the second crappiest owner in sports (only Sterling is worse), and nothing can overcome that level of SUCK.

Icepick said...

Basically, Trooper, once Lebron threatened to lead a boycott because Sterling didn't want his girlfriend getting gang-banged by the team on the Staples Center floor for the half-time show, it was all over.

The Dude said...

Let us review - guy buys team for 12 million, is forced to sell it for 2 billion.

Man, name calling, when done correctly, can result in a tidy profit.

I guess Ol' Diseased Johnson sure showed him!

ndspinelli said...

Icepick, You are absolutely correct. If Sterling owned a business free and clear no one could force him to sell under these circumstances. He owns a franchise, different rules.

Lydia said...

From NBC News: Donald Sterling to Sue NBA for $1 Billion

edutcher said...

I love it!

Trooper York said...

I hope he wins.

Or at the very least deposes every player, coach, executive and beat writer to see if they have ever said anything racial at anytime about anyone.

Trooper York said...

Let them build a beautiful new league under a new foundation.

Of scorched earth.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Trooper, I'm finding your anti-franchiser stance perplexing to say the least. You talk of Serling like he's the only owner. Does the NBA have no rights? Is his ownership complete? Can he do anything he wants? Have you ever "owned" a time share or condo?

There are stipulations. I mean, come on. Quiznos is a franchised operation. Does each owner get to do whatever he wants to the Quiznos he runs? Change the way the signs look? Lower the standards of the food prep-line?

Give me a break.

This is corporate America and somehow owning a tiny stake in something makes one an owner of the whole enchilada. Really. We've been telling you guys about how corporate America works, in its often fascist ways, for years already. What's not to get? That you really thought the teensiest bit of "ownership" that constitutes a franchise operation makes someone that much more untouchable than the peon employees the political right allows each owner to piss on so wantonly?

Come on.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Why not ban a dude who cheated on his wife and "obtained" a deadly sexually transmitted disease?

If you make private behavior the benchmark on your ability to be in the league than you have to ban everybody.


Um… yeah. Last I checked most Americans don't think it's cool to hate and discriminate based on HIV status, either. I guess the kids at Ryan White's high school could sympathize, but a hell of a lot less people sympathized with them than with him.

Come on man. This is America. And now we have to control not only the private sector in the form of league ownership but when it comes to public sentiment?

How does that work?

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

The NBA is a corporation. Let's ask Scalia et al, why Sterling's speech rights should trump the corporation's speech rights.

I'm not sensing much of a popular groundswell of conservative post-Citizens United sentiment in favor of restricting a corporation so that one of it's partial owners can make segregationist comments with impunity. But if this is the case that causes a decent con or two to realize how far corporate over-reach has gone, so be it, I guess.

Trooper York said...

I am saying that if you are going to ban someone then ban the guy who cheated on his wife and got an std. Doesn't matter what std.

Trooper York said...

This is a free speech issue.

I didn't realize that when you own a franchise you give up all of your rights.

Especially the right to not be taped illegally.

That is what I am concerned about. Not Donald Sterling.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Would you let your employees say whatever they want to be aired for millions of people to hear?

edutcher said...

Ritmo kindly gives us the Lefty position on free speech.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

The law of the land says the government can't get in the way, eduardo. But since when do you care about the law? You only care about politics. I know, I know, back to the politics.

Icepick said...

Trooper, this could be the most awesome sports story ever if Sterling gets to sell the team at a huge mark-up, dodge taxes and STILL sue the Association.

I see you are finally starting to understand how much fun discovery would be. Total sports Armageddon! And I believe there's at least one ownership group that also has stakes in an NFL team. And they can depose Magic Johnson and suck in the Dodgers and MLB. And I think the Nuggets owner also owns an NHL franchise. Best thing ever! Come on Donald! Go straight to the mattresses!

Icepick said...

Just remember to be Michael Corleone and not Moe Green. Or maybe aim for Hyman Roth territory.

edutcher said...

Ritmo projects like Bell & Howell.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

What?