Topline
The WNBA announced a reported $75 million capital raise Thursday morning, the largest for a women’s sports property ever, according to the league, and these are the billionaires behind the record funding (all net worths are estimates from Forbes’ real-time billionaire tracker).
Key Facts
Michael Dell, worth $61.5 billion, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies
Laurene Powell Jobs, worth $17.9 billion, wife of late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs and minority owner of several Washington, D.C., professional sports teams
Joseph Tsai, worth $9 billion, cofounder of the Alibaba Group and owner of NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and WNBA’s New York Liberty
Micky Arison, worth $6.5 billion, Carnival Corporation chairman and owner of NBA’s Miami Heat
Mark Walter, worth $4.6 billion, CEO of investment firm Guggenheim Partners and coowner of WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks and MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers
Herb Simon, worth $3.5 billion, real estate tycoon and owner of NBA’s Indiana Pacers and WNBA’s NBA Fever
Theodore Leonsis, worth $1.4 billion, former AOL executive and majority owner of Monumental Sports, which owns NBA's Washington Wizards, WNBA's Washington Mystics and NHL’s Washington Capitals
Tangent
Several other relatives of billionaires also invested, including Linda Henry, the CEO of Boston Globe Media Partners and wife of billionaire John Henry, and Dee Haslam and Whitney Johnson, members of the Haslam family worth $6 billion, according to Forbes. Other investors include former NBA stars Baron Davis and Pau Gasol, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Nike.
Key Background
The WNBA raised $75 million, according to the New York Times and The Athletic. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Egelbert told the New York Times the league is hopeful the funding will help the league catch up financially to its American professional sports leagues peers: “We’re going to take a huge step forward in transforming the league and getting us an economic model that is worthy of players on the court.” In 2018, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the WNBA lost an average of over $10 million dollars annually since the WNBA’s founding in 1996.
Surprising Fact
Becky Hammon, the new head coach of the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, will receive $1 million or more in annual salary, according to Aces owner Mark Davis, more than four times higher than the $228,904 the WNBA’s highest-paid players earn. WNBA star Elizabeth Cambage criticized this pay disparity in a Tuesday tweet, writing, “ahhh yes the @WNBA, where a head coach can get paid 4X the highest paid players super max contract.” The average WNBA player is paid about 1.5% as much as the average NBA player.
Further Reading
W.N.B.A. Raises $75 Million With Hopes of Business Model Revamp (New York Times)
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February 04, 2022 at 12:02AM
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Here Are The Billionaires Behind WNBA’s Record Capital Raise - Forbes
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