Nobody can be good at everything, even Michael Jordan. As stellar a career as Jordan has had as a basketball player, perhaps he couldn’t become the same as a team owner. He could not bring the same glory to the Charlotte Hornets as an owner, as he did to the Chicago Bulls as a player. Recently, after having the majority stake in the Hornets for over a decade, Mike finally sold the majority of it. The sale netted a near $2 billion for the former Bulls player. However, 24 years before MJ sold his majority share, a source says, he was given a ‘$25,000,000 Nuggets Investment’ opportunity by a Saudi Princess.
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Jordan loved basketball more than anything. Even after his retirement, he wanted to own an NBA team because he didn’t want to leave the game. Jordan wanted to run his team’s day-to-day business. After his retirement in 1998, he was looking for a team to buy.
When a Saudi Princess asked Michael Jordan for $25,000,000 in Denver Nuggets
In 1999, Jordan asked then-owner George Shinn about buying a minority stake in the Hornets. However, the two sides did not agree on the price for controlling the day-to-day operations of the team. Interestingly, even before Jordan bought a majority stake in the Hornets, he was contacted by a Saudi Princess for a minority stake in the Denver Nuggets.
Princess Thara Baselia Saud offered the basketball legend $25 million to own a minority stake in the team. However, only a few expected that Michael would actually invest in the Nuggets.
He wanted to control the day-to-day operations of the team in which he was investing, and Charles Grantham was already in line to take the position.
Finally, Mike didn’t take the minority stake in the Nuggets. Imagine, had Jordan invested his money in the Neggets, what his worth would have been. However, we all know, Jordan is not one doing the compromise at all. He is built differently.
Jordan had to sell his stake to be able to play basketball again
It was in 2000 that Jordan finally had an offer on the table, which he had wanted for a very long time. He finally ended up going for the Washington Wizards, where he got a minority stake (10%) and also control of day-to-day operations.
However, by 2001, the six-time NBA champion wanted to make his return to the NBA as a player. Perhaps he was too tired and restless to see the players on the court. Going by the league rules, he could not have a stake in any of the teams in the league.
Finally, he sold his minority stake in 2001 to be able to play in the league.
