LOS ANGELES – According to media reports, former Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer has won the bid to buy the Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion.
Ballmer, 58, beat out the Los Angeles-based investment group of Tony Ressler and Bruce Karsh and a group of investors from the Guggenheim group that included David Geffen. Per sources, the Geffen-led group offered $1.6 billion and the Ressler/Karsh group offered $1.2 billion.
The prospective sale to Ballmer, a former CEO at the Redford-based software giant for 14 years, comes five days after outgoing owner Donald Sterling authorized his wife, Shelley, to retain Bank of America to sell the team that he had owned since 1981, and was forced to sell after audio tapes were made public involving derogatory racial remarks towards African-Americans.
The sale needs the approval of all 29 current NBA owners. According to The Los Angeles Times, Ballmer, who has a net profit of $20 billion, was part of a failed investment group that tried to buy the Sacramento Kings and move them to Seattle. Per sources, Ballmer has stated that he will keep the Clippers in Los Angeles.