Save enough 350 water towers and you can buy a Lakers team
On June 18, US time, the Lakers received their own 10 billion subsidy: the Bass family sold most of the team's equity to shareholder Mark Walter, and he only temporarily retained 15%. The valuation of this equity is as high as US$10 billion, breaking the 6 billion mark of Celtics selling teams, equivalent to more than 70 billion yuan, and is enough to build 350 water bureau buildings, setting a new record in the history of American professional sports.
Reality will always realize your dreams in absurd form. Lakers fans waited for it, but before they could get a large transaction worth tens of millions, they waited for a boss worth tens of billions of dollars to change. Although Jenny Buss will continue to serve as the team helm and agree with his new boss Walter to continue to take charge of the team for the "foreseeable future." But with the lessons of the Mavericks, it is a matter of the new boss shorting the old boss.
Speaking of Mark Walter, most reports now mention that he is the leader of the "diversified holding company TWG Global" and the owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He also invested in the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks, Chelsea Club, Strasbourg, and the upcoming Cadillac F1 team... He is a veteran entrepreneur and investor with a wide range of traversals.
This seems to be good news for Lakers fans. Family-style management has been making jokes when it reaches the second generation. They begin to imagine professional traders leading the Lakers to a new victory future. Even Magic Johnson said excitedly: "About Mark, I can say that he pursues victory and excellence, does everything in the right way, and he will invest enough resources to win! Like Jenny, he is a competitive and broad-minded person. I feel extremely happy and excited for Lakers fans all over the world!"
Walter does have the capital to be praised so much. He started as the son of a concrete worker and worked step by step into the CEO of Guggenheim Partners, managing more than 300 billion dollars in assets. His TWG company is one of the branches of Guggenheim.
At the end of last year, Bloomberg estimated that he had $12 billion in personal net assets. Walter controlled several insurance companies through TWG, and invested with the UAE's sovereign funds. It can be said that he is a financial giant. Wherever Walter's investment master goes, insurance advertising will be rampant.
In the sports world, Walter's investment is known for his boldness. In 2012, the Los Angeles Dodgers were in a trough. Forbes offered the team a valuation of only $1.4 billion, and the psychological expectations of other consortiums were generally around $1.6 billion. Walter and Magic Johnson and other investors formed the Guggenheim Baseball Management Company and completed the acquisition at a sky-high price of $2.15 billion, directly cutting off the idea of the Dodger boss opening an auction the next day.
Although during the acquisition, Walter used the 300 million US dollars of insurance funds under Guggenheim, which caused considerable controversy in the investment community, which not only attracted criticism from the New York Times and other media, but also attracted investigations from regulators. But the team quickly reached a huge broadcast contract of 8.35 billion with Time Warner, not only paying off the high debts owed by the former boss, but also giving the Dodgers an unprecedented ability to make money and professional vision.
Hire professional managers to act as traders, form the most professional analysis and nutrition department, renovate the stadium for $500 million, sign Shohei Otani in 10 years, the team's total salary has been ranked first in the league for 9 years in 13 years, the team entered the finals four times, and won two championships... Under Walter's management, the Dodgers' valuation soared to $7.7 billion, and generated $1 billion in revenue last year. The soaring Dodgers set a huge golden sign for Walter. He took this opportunity to go deep into the Los Angeles sports market and buy with the Dodgers' partners (the Magician is also one of them). In 2014, they bought the Los Angeles Sparks to help the team win the 2016 WNBA championship. In 2021, Walter invested a billion dollars to acquire 20% of the Lakers' equity, becoming one of the shareholders who can participate in team decisions.
It is hard to imagine that Walter played this big game four years ago, but his experience and ability to be a boss are indeed much better than Jenny Bass. Not only is he rich, he also knows how to spend money. In addition to spending a lot of money to introduce superstars, he will also form a professional management and logistics team. The behind-the-scenes team he formed in the Dodgers is called "the team's secret weapon" in the industry.
After all, if you are rich, you will be cheated and doubted about your life. The Nets and the Suns are even more overdrawn by bosses who only know how to spend money. As Ge Lao Yan said, "Being able to use people is the first priority in doing things." Walter's subsidy of 10 billion was just exposed, and before the league was officially finalized, Lakers reporters revealed that the Dodgers' executive vice president Rosen will participate in the daily operations of the Lakers. Aunt Jenny's shares were still in her hands, and the sand of power was mixed in first.
Rosen (right) is actually the long-term agent of the Magician. In the 1980s, he served as the Lakers' promotion director
Indeed, compared to excellent coaches and big-name stars, a professional executive team is the real existence that affects the team's upper limit. The two teams that entered the finals this year are inseparable from the management's decision-making efforts, except for thanks to Paul George. Although the traditional family-run team is full of emotions and warmth, it is inevitable that it will be dragged down by emotions and palace fighting scenes. Even the Spurs, controlled by the Holt family and the Pacers, under the Simon Brothers, rarely interfere in the team's operations, relying mainly on the general manager's decisiveness.
Moreover, not every family member is willing to continue to revitalize the team. After the first generation who has deep feelings for the team leaves, the second generation often examines this legacy with a more commercial perspective.. This is the case with the Bass family. Except for Jenny Bass, other members have long wanted to sell the team to cash out at high positions. After resisting the pressure and operating for a long time, facing Walter's money offensive, Jenny finally chose to compromise - from a valuation of 4.4 billion in 20 years to a current 10 billion, he gave too much.
On the other hand, the side of NBA teams as "investment commodities" is also easy to be ignored by us. The Bucks lost money while winning the championship, which has allowed the boss to break the defense. The Rockets' stinginess for 30 years is also the boss's dependence on saving money. The Grossbeck family sold the Celtics at high prices is a beautiful story in the investment industry - not only avoiding the pressure of huge luxury taxes, but also magically avoiding the black swan effect of Tatum's reimbursement.
The humorous thing is that the Magician, known for his hindsight, wrote yesterday: "As I expected, when the Celtics sold for $6 billion, I knew that the Lakers were worth $10 billion!" However, considering his relationship with Walter, the Magician was likely to participate in the whole process and know about Walter's plan to acquire the Lakers.
After all, the NBA league is a game accumulated by the bosses of 30 teams, and NBA teams are just investment targets for the rich to make money, and there is no essential difference from fund stocks. If the yield is high, hold it, sell it when the prospect is dim. The bosses hire general managers, just like investors looking for investment managers. If you choose Gelan Medical, you will lose money, and if you buy Pelosi, you will make a profit. With the continuous professionalization of NBA data, technology, training, skills and tactics and rules, bosses will inevitably pursue a more professional trading team, gradually giving up the team's actual control in this process, and eventually turning from a "live-person version of Fantesi Manager" to a real "joint-stock responsibility company". In addition to formulating and grasping the general direction and giving enough resources, the remaining details are left to professional managers for handling.
The traditional wealthy families have completed modern transformation, and family management has become a past trend. Like the Celtics, the Lakers have become an ordinary joint-stock small and micro enterprise in the North American professional sports circle (the Lakers applied for subsidies to the Los Angeles government in the name of small and micro enterprises during the epidemic). Perhaps in this era, an ordinary team run by professional managers is more likely to respond to the expectations of fans and superstars.
PS: This article will create video content with "Basketball Characters" on other video platforms.
Welcome to our WeChat public account "Captain of the Back Sports Workers". There are more NBA and CBA-related archaeology, comments and character content>>
(text/Pan Zhili)
