Peter Guber and Joe Lacob have purchased the Golden State Warriors for a whopping USD 450 million, said multiple media reports. Reports citing a person privy to the deal said that it would be a record bid for a National Basketball Association team in history. Interestingly, Warriors camp has maintained silence on the deal. According to a report, Warriors spokesperson Ray Ridder declined to comment on the reports during a telephonic interview. Warriors bid has outperformed previous record price for an NBA team, which was $401 million for the Phoenix Suns in 2004. Galatioto Sports Partners handled both sales. Sal Galatioto, the head of the company, refused to comment on the reported deal.
Reports added that Guber, chairman of Mandalay Entertainment Group, and Lacob, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and an investor in the Boston Celtics, struck the deal with Christopher Cohan after a bidding that included Larry Ellison, chief executive of Oracle Corp. Lacob’s company is a venture capital partnership based in San Francisco. Spokesman Howard Bragman said Guber was not available to respond to the report.
It may be recalled that the Oakland, California-based Warriors cost Cohan around USD 119 million in January 1995. He then sold 20 per cent to a group of local investors in July 2004. It’s notable that the Warriors came up with their worst play off record in the NBA history under Cohan. They have been able to make the postseason once in their past 16 outings. During Cohan’s tenure, the team registered a 477-803 figures, which happens to be the second worst performance in the league. Warriors just managed to stay behind the Los Angeles Clippers. Golden State stood at the 13th in the Western Conference last season with a 26-56 record, 31 games behind the Los Angeles Lakers.
