The 5 Worst Things about ex- Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer buying The L.A. Clippers

[TeamPooka]

1. The Clippers are no longer compatible with Apple products.
2. The Clippers will now require weekly updates that do nothing.
3. The Clippers will now come bundled with a lot of software you don't want and can't use.
4. The Clippers are now more susceptible to hackers so change their password often.
5. Get ready for Clippers Vista.

Steve Ballmer Wins Bidding for Clippers With $2 Billion Price Tag (Report)

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is to reportedly buy the Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion.
The news came after weeks of speculation on the fate of the team since Donald Sterling was banned for life from the NBA by commissioner Adam Silver on April 29.
The sale would be the highest ever paid for a NBA team.
Ballmer was chosen over competitors that included Los Angeles-based investors Tony Ressler and Steve Karsh and a group that included David Geffen and executives from the Guggenheim Group, the Chicago-based owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, according to the Los Angeles Times.
more at link...
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/steve-ballmer-wins-bidding-clippers-708041

[nolabear]

1. SEATTLE-SEATTLE-SEATTLE-SEATTLE-SEATTLE-SEATTLE!!!!

[Jenoch]

2. There is virtually zero chance he would move the Clippers out of LA.

[itsrobert]

4. Yup, and the chances of a team going to (or expansion) Seattle just went down big time

When one of the primary person that had the will to do it is now going to own the LA Clippers.

[Maedhros]

10. Not competing for entertainment dollars with the Lakers may have advantages.

Seattle would overwhelmingly welcome an NBA franchise.

[former9thward]

13. He will not move the team.

The businessman said in a recent interview that he had no intention of moving the Clippers. He said that the high valuations for the team only made sense in Los Angeles, the second biggest media market in the country.






http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-sn-clippers-sale-ballmer-20140529-story.html

[Maedhros]

23. Yes - I hadn't considered the enormous sum he paid for the franchise.

That makes a move less desirable.

[DonCoquixote]

35. tell that to the

Oklahoma city Thunder.

[TeamPooka]

3. :)

[Recursion]

25. Even Ballmer isn't stupid enough to give up the LA market

And the NBA as a whole is overextended into regional markets as it is.

[joeybee12]

5. So Sterling is not only an asshole, he is now an even richer asshole...nt

[Maedhros]

9. Assets changed form, from owned to monetary.

Meh.

[stevenleser]

28. Not in this case. Team valuation was a little over $500 million, he is getting $2 Billion.

I have no idea why Balmer wanted to pay nearly 4 times valuation but then again, I don't have Billions of dollars without any real idea of what to do with it.

[MicaelS]

12. He might be richer,

But his wife getting half of all that money when she divorces him is going to gnaw at him. And him losing the Clippers is going to gnaw at him like a cancer.

[former9thward]

14. He has a billion less out of billions.

He is in his mid-80s. I doubt it is going to gnaw on him for a second.

[stevenleser]

33. Yeah, this is not an unhappy time for him.

He can probably buy any 3-5 European sports teams now and live in the French or Italian Riviera where no one will know what he did.

[DJ13]

6. Steve is HappyHappyHappy

[Gidney N Cloyd]

7. Fouls and airballs will be called General Basketball Failures.

[TeamPooka]

18. 404 Player not found

[davidn3600]

8. So Sterling and his wife are going to walk away from this mess with $2 billion profit

They only paid $12.5 million when they bought the team.

[stevenleser]

32. Yes, to answer you succinctly. It's disgusting.

I'm trying to think about how much public shaming and humiliation I would be willing to endure for $2 Billion.

The answer is, a whole heck of a lot. Even if I hadn't done anything wrong.

[MineralMan]

11. I don't know. I don't follow soccer. nt

[dawg]

15. Free-throw and three-pointer lines ....

replaced with "tiles".

[TeamPooka]

20. lol

[dawg]

16. Team owner no longer sounds just like a racist version of ...

Master Shake from Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

[Mnemosyne]

17. And he still cannot dance. nt

[Jenoch]

19. I kind of miss the old days when owners of

professional sports franchises did not have to be billionaires. I wonder who the last owner was who's only asset was the team and did not have more money invested from outside ventures. I know in Minnesota, Calvin Griffith (another racist owner) owned the Minnesota Twins and that was the family business. They started out as one of the original American League teams in 1901.

[TeamPooka]

21. They must have gone away around the same time cities started building stadiums for the teams.

[Jenoch]

22. I don't think that is correct.

Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota was built to attract a MLB team, ultimately acquiring the Minnesota Twins in 1961.

[Initech]

24. The absolute worst thing? Donald Sterling gets nearly $2 BILLION of practically tax free income.

If we want to reduce the deficit the IRS should be circling these sales like vultures.

[GReedDiamond]

26. Yeah, and he bought the team back in the 80s for...

...a paltry 12 Million $.

Not a bad return on his investment, no?

And, btw, fuck Donald Sterling and anyone else associated with him on the back end of this shit.

[Initech]

27. Amen to that!

[stevenleser]

29. I'm not an accountant or CPA so can you tell me why this would be tax free?

Thanks

[Initech]

30. Because we give huge tax breaks to billionaires?

That's my guess.

[stevenleser]

31. I don't think there is enough writeoffs in the world to cover all the capital gains here.

Not being an accountant, I don't know if you count the profit from the $12 million he paid for the team 2+ decades ago versus the $2 Billion or the $500 million valuation of the team versus the $2 Billion, but whichever, he is going to be paying 25% on a lot of money.

[Leme]

34. meh

He had the money and wanted to get into the entertainment business; and those in a monopoly of a corner of that entertainment business chose his money.