2 new candidates reportedly enter the process to possibly buy the Celtics
Celtics limited partner Robert Hale reportedly has a "keen interest" in potentially purchasing more stake in the franchise.
A new pair of possible suitors to purchase the Celtics have emerged.
Celtics limited partner Robert Hale and HighPost Capital’s Mark Bezos have expressed interest in purchasing the team, The Boston Globe’s Michael Silverman and Shirley Leung reported Friday. Hale confirmed his interest to the Globe, saying he has a “keen interest” in possibly purchasing more of the franchise.
“It is a very, very valuable asset and a lot of fun,” Hale told the Globe of his interest in the team.
As for Bezos, he’s a founding partner of HighPost Capital, a private equity company based in West Palm Beach, Florida. Mark Bezos is also the half-brother of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who was rumored to be a possible candidate to buy the Celtics at one point. As of late August, Jeff Bezos has no intention of purchasing the Celtics, Sportico reported.
It’s unknown how much of the Grousbeck family’s majority share of the franchise Hale and Bezos are interested in purchasing, but the formal sale process began earlier in October, according to The Boston Globe. Hale, a Northampton native who co-founded Granite Telecommunications in 2002, has been an investor with the ownership group since 2012.
Hale is among the richest men in the world, appearing on the most recent Forbes 400 list with a $5.8 billion net worth. It’s unclear what Bezos’s net worth is, but he held a $100,000 share in Amazon a year before the company went public in 1997. Of course, Bezos’s brother is among the richest men in the world, holding a net worth of $197 billion, according to Forbes.
There haven’t been many known candidates to purchase the Celtics since the Grousbeck family announced it was selling its majority stake in the franchise in July. Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca said he was looking forward to being a “proud participant in the bidding process” shortly after the Grousbeck family announced it was selling its share. Meanwhile, Fenway Sports Group isn’t interested in purchasing the Celtics, Sports Business Journal reported Thursday.
Pagliuca has been a part of the Celtics’ ownership group since the Grousbecks bought the team in 2003 for $360 million. It’s unclear how much stake Pagliuca currently has in the franchise, but he bought James Pallotta’s 8 percent share of the team in 2020 at an estimated $2.8 billion valuation, according to Sportico.
The Celtics were recently valued at $4.7 billion by Forbes in October 2023. However, the NBA is hoping the Celtics are purchased for at least $6 billion, The Ringer’s Bill Simmons reported in August.
In the Grousbeck family’s announcement that it was selling its portion of the franchise, it stated that it was targeting to go through the first stage of the sale by early 2025. The family is targeting for the rest of the sale to be finalized by 2028, with Wyc Grousbeck remaining on as the team’s governor through that date.
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