Hupu Sports June 29 News Previously, many Chinese and even Chinese-origin bosses had had "scandals" with NBA teams. When the Hawks were sold, "Chinese bosses took over" became a hot word; and Clippers At the time of the sale, there were rumors that , Yao Ming, and would invest in the company. Now, Chinese investors have taken the first step to invest in an NBA team. Chinese businessman Jiang Lizhang has invested in the Timberwolves, becoming the first Chinese investor to invest in an NBA team. The NBA team also has its first Chinese small-time player. boss.
Yesterday, according to NBA sources, Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glenn Taylor reached an agreement with Chinese businessman Jiang Lizhang. Jiang Lizhang will purchase part of the shares of the Timberwolves and become the team's minority owner. He is also the first player in NBA history to A Chinese boss.
As early as last year, Taylor announced plans to sell 30% of the Timberwolves to Steve Kaplan, the minor owner of the Memphis Grizzlies. But Kaplan wanted to become the majority owner of the Timberwolves, and Taylor wasn't willing to let go. At the beginning of this year, negotiations between the two parties completely collapsed. In the past five years, Taylor has tried twice to sell his shares in the team, but he was unsuccessful. League sources revealed that the current market valuation of the Timberwolves is approximately US$1 billion.
This time, Jiang Lizhang bought about 5% of the shares of the Timberwolves and 5% of the WNBA Bobcats (this team is also in Minnesota). The Timberwolves are currently the youngest team with potential in the league. These three young people, Towns, Wiggins, and LaVine, are the focus of the league; in this year's draft, they selected the best point guard this year. One Dunn.
In fact, Jiang Lizhang, who acquired shares in the Timberwolves, has been active in the sports capital market. He had just completed the acquisition of shares in the Spanish Granada Football Club. According to previous reports, Jiang Lizhang purchased 98.13% of the shares of Granada club and became the club’s largest shareholder.
Jiang Lizhang previously worked for NBA China. In 2004, he established the sports integrated marketing company Double-Edged Sword and served as president. The company is headquartered in Suzhou.
's double-edged sword's previous sports marketing cases helped PPTV win the exclusive copyright of La Liga's full media, Hongxing Erke tennis sponsorship and 361° Olympic strategy. On March 7 this year, Double-edged Sword, which has always been low-key, announced that it would join hands with European sports agency MBS and the Pozzo family to establish the World Football Industry Alliance to test the waters in sports marketing, youth training, top athlete agency and other fields.
It is reported that the Grenada club was valued at 37 million euros at the time; and if the Timberwolves were valued at US$1 billion, a 5% stake would be worth US$50 million.
(Editor: Liu Xiaohei)
