Everyone that has something to do with the Milwaukee Bucks franchise. Meet New York based hedge fund moguls Wesley Edens and Marc Lasry. They are going to buy your flailing franchise.
They will buy the Bucks from the current owner Herb Kohl for $550 Million.
Kohl is a longtime senator of Wisconsin and has owned the Bucks since 1985. (Nearly 30 years) He’s beloved in his home community. Partly for his stubbornness in keeping the Bucks franchise in Milwaukee. Funnily enough that was one of Kohl’s guidelines when finding a buyer.
… there is no way I would allow people under the Milwaukee Bucks tent unless they have full level of commitment to keeping the team here.
But who are the new buyers? Well Edens is 52 and is the founder of Fortress Investment Group which is now a publicly traded private equity firm. He is worth (Drumroll please…) $1.2 Billion, as of 2008 but still that’s a lot of dough.
Lasry is the co-founder of Avenue Capital Group which is a multibillion dollar hedge fund investment group. Forbes listed his net worth at… $1.7 Billion earlier this year. He nearly ditched his firm when President Obama offered him to be the US Ambassador to France.
That’s a half decent track record for the two firm founders. I think Milwaukee is in good hands.
