Billionaire Michael Bloomberg has agreed to join a group vying to buy the Minnesota Timberwolves, along with former MLB star Alex Rodriguez and e-commerce mogul Marc Lore, The Athletic reported Thursday—as the group remains embroiled in a months-long dispute over its bid to buy the NBA franchise.
The group has been tied up in an ownership dispute over the basketball franchise.
Bloomberg is joining as the group tries to boost its stake in the NBA team from 40% to 80% through a $600 million investment, buying most of majority owner Glen Taylor’s remaining 60% stake, according to The Athletic, which cited unnamed sources.
The former New York City mayor will reportedly contribute some of an additional $300 million investment that would let the group immediately buy out the final 20% held by Taylor, giving the group complete ownership.
It is not immediately clear how much Bloomberg is contributing to the investment or how much of the team he would own.
A spokesperson for Bloomberg declined to comment.
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Rodriguez and Lore, the chief executive of the Wonder Group, agreed to buy the Minnesota Timberwolves outright from Taylor in April 2021 for $1.5 billion, after securing financial backing from Dyal Capital Partnership, an investment group tied to former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. The group initially purchased a 40% stake, and the deal to buy the team was scheduled to close in March, but Taylor released a statement just before the deadline, saying the ownership group lacked the money to complete the deal and failed to meet unspecified terms of the agreement. He also said the Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx, the WNBA franchise, were “no longer for sale.” Lore and Rogriguez have disputed Taylor’s claims and said the money is available, while also indicating they submitted the required paperwork for the deal ahead of the deadline.
The ownership group is preparing for arbitration with Taylor, following a failed round of mediation in May, sources told The Athletic and The Star Tribune.