Is Brian Davis and his reported $7 billion bid for the Commanders really on the up and up?
We finally got some clarity on the subject Wednesday, as The Sports Junkies welcomed Davis in for most of the 8 AM hour, and he finally spoke publicly about the entirety of his bid.
Davis, the Bladensburg High and Duke alum, has been part of the discussion for some of the wrong reasons – notably the facts that many of his business dealings in the past have gone south, and that his company that is allegedly worth $50 billion due to intellectual property sales – but when EB flat out asked him if he’s suggesting that he is a billionaire, Davis had a quick answer.
“Yes, I am making that suggestion. I just finalized a relationship with some of the wealthiest people in the world to help uplift my people and community, and I do (have a net worth of over $1 billion) today,” Davis said. “I’ve developed over the last several years, and managed a relationship where we’ve had this capital over a couple of months; we haven’t transacted, but we’d like to sign a contract. We haven’t begun to spend major capital, but we hope to, soon.”
According to Davis, he has already sent in three of the five items on the bid checklist – a letter of intent, a personal balance sheet, and “a sources and uses document with the timeline.” He plans to send the final proof of funds to prove he has the capital “by close of business today,” which would mean we’re at a point, if Davis does, that this seems to be a legitimate offer.
“I apologize for the delay, but I’ve been fortunate that Bank of America and the Snyders have given me the opportunity to make this offer,” Davis said.
EB chimed in at that point and explained where he stood on Davis before the interview, noting he never believed Davis’ net worth was in double-digit figures – although as Davis explained, the net worth figure being thrown around is a combination of partnerships, IP sale, and his two business verticals.
“My personal net worth is because of my partners who are multi-billionaires…I’m representing them, but I’ve sold my intellectual property, which allowed me to have a large amount of capital, but this capital is a direct reflection of the business model,” Davis said. “I’m not saying I’m special, I’m saying the business model is special. We have two major verticals: distributive power generation and wholesale utility production, and between those two things, we’re able to generate about $5 billion a year capital on 5,000 acres we own and control today – and I was the first person in America to do it.”
Davis went on to explain to EB that yes, indeed, he is doing that today, explaining exactly what it is that his business model is doing.
“There’s a place called the West Village in Durham where we developed four million square feet of old tobacco warehouse, and the way we became LEED-certified developers is that we were the first to integrated the energy efficient and renewable technologies,” Davis said. “What that means is 5G, Wi-Fi, solar panels, the Cloud network – at 26 years old, I created a business model to integrate those things. It’s called distributive because it’s integration of residential, commercial, and retail with these technologies, and what you do is produce energy and sell it back to the grid.”
Davis told the Junkies “I’ve been doing it for 25 years, but I don’t go around talking about it all the time, I’m in the trenches doing the work” – but once again, the guys jumped in and noted the WUSA-9 report cited the U.S. Green Building Council in saying “LEED-certified is inaccurate because the USGBC does not certify developers or organizations.”
“What I said was our development was the first LEED-certified and green development in the country, and that’s a fact. I’m not Nikola Tesla, but I have been doing this for 25 years. I haven’t made a great splash, but this is the opportunity for growth. As an individual, I can’t represent that I’m LEED, but as the majority owner and person who created that, I can represent that – and if they want to tell me it’s not, that’s a lie, because we’re the first green guys in America.”
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And as for that intellectual property deal worth $50 billion? EB whipped out his Kevin O’Leary Shark Tank analogy again, which Davis downplayed because he’s a businessman and a producer.
“He can laugh, but I’m an operator in the trenches,” Davis said. “What I said is that what I’m doing is a fact. If you look at infrastructure laws, there are many people who sell megawatt and solar energy back to the gird; that doesn’t make me special, what makes me special is that I’m an expert in finding the appropriate sites zoned for this activity. When you can do that, you can created 1,000 megawatts on 5,000 acres.”
How he got to that valuation, Davis notes, is a “valuation is 10 times revenue” scale.
“When we talk about a $50 billion valuation, what we mean is that 1,000 megawatts plus 3,000 apartments generates $5b a year. The football team generates $500 million a year, which is 10 percent of our overall business model,” Davis said. “What I said was that at $5b a year, with the same 10 times extrapolation as a team, that’s $50 billion. The team, at $560 million a year, was valued at $5.6 billion. Our business model is $5b a year times 10 is a $50b valuation.”
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EB jumped in again to say all those numbers are theoretical, but that’s when Davis finally revealed a source of his wealth.
“I have $20 billion in my holding company through my business, that’s a fact; whether you believe it or not is up to you, but it’s the NFL’s job to make that decision,” Davis said. “I don’t want people to issue statements about me having Saudi money or anything that’s inaccurate – my money comes from white people, and the NFL will find that out. Those are my partners.”
This back and forth was only about 10 minutes of a near 40-minute conversation with Davis about the entirety of the situation, so you can take a listen above and stick with 106.7 The Fan and The Team 980 on the web and social media for more throughout the day!
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