The ownership of the Timberwolves appears to be changing again, barely a year after the NBA approved the sale to Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore.
Last June, the $1.5 billion sale of the Minnesota Timberwolves from Glen Taylor to an investment group led by e-commerce entrepreneur Lore and former baseball star Rodriguez gained NBA approval, finalizing a complex and contentious process more than four years after the deal was reached.
Now, ESPN's NBA insider Shams Charania is reporting that business leader Marc Stad has completed a deal to become the controlling owner and largest shareholder of the Timberwolves and WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx.
Charnia says that Stad is buying the majority of co-owner Marc Lore’s stake at a $4.5 billion valuation. Stad had previously been a limited partner in the group with Lore and Rodriguez, but now takes on the largest share of the franchise.
It appears Rodriguez will remain as part of the ownership group, however. Lore and Rodriguez were co-chairman of the ownership group.
WCCO sports host Henry Lake says that Lore's position in the franchise became untenable, and his other business interests had been facing difficulty.
"When you are elevated into a position of being in the ownership group, and being owners of a sports team, you have to have deep pockets," says Lake. "Not just a billion here, a billionaire, you have to have much deeper pockets than that."
According to The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski, Lore will remain a part of the ownership group, but will only do so in a limited role. He also reports Rodriguez will remain the more visible, public-facing owner of the team with Stad remaining in the background.
Stad is 47-years-old and the founder of San Francisco-based Dragoneer Investment Group, an investment firm with over $35 billion in assets under management, according to LinkedIn. The firm specializes in technology investments, and he is a California-native.
The Athletic also says Stad's wife, Elisa, will be the primary person at the table for the franchise so that he can concentrate on his Dragoneer business.
The deal has not been finalized, and all NBA ownership changes must be approved by the league's Board of Governors.
The franchise has been in an ownership churn ever since Minnesota businessman Glen Taylor, who has owned the team since 1994, put them up for sale in 2021. Taylor and the Lore-Rodriguez group ended up in arbitration after the initial deal to purchase the franchise, with Taylor claiming in March 2024 that the teams were “no longer for sale.”
Taylor said at the time that the 90-day "closing" on the purchase of the franchise by Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez had expired without a purchase agreement being fulfilled. Arbitrators eventually ruled in favor of Rodriguez-Lore, finalizing the deal which was approved by the NBA.
Franchise co-chairman Alex Rodriguez is expected to remain in his role with the organization
Franchise co-chairman Alex Rodriguez is expected to remain in his role with the organization
