<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Warriors owner Chris Cohan has agreed to sell a 20 percent, non-controlling stake of the franchise to a group of South Bay investors. If approved by the NBA, the deal could be worth more than $50 million for Cohan, according to media valuations of the Warriors and recent sales of three NBA franchises with an average price tag of about $300 million. This is the first time Cohan, one of a handful of NBA owners with 100 percent stakes in their teams, has accepted minority investors in his 10-year, zero-playoff ownership. No options are built into the deal for the group to buy more of the team, said Warriors President Robert Rowell, and there are no plans to play anywhere but at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, where the Warriors have a long-term lease. Cohan purchased the team in January 1995 for an estimated $110 million to $140 million. Despite the lack of on-court success, Rowell emphasized that the franchise's value has ballooned. "It's just a good business move for us," Rowell said Monday. "These guys are successful business people who have run multi-billion-dollar corporations. "They've obviously tagged the NBA as a business venture that they want to get involved in." Michael Marks, CEO of San Jose-based Flextronics and the point man for the investment group, said he was impressed by the Warriors' recent moves to clear salary-cap space for next summer and by the decisions to put Chris Mullin and Rod Higgins in charge of the basketball operations and hire Mike Montgomery as coach.</div> <div align="center">Link</div>
Minority owners don't do much in the way of daily business activities. Obviously, they are part owners, but essentially they are more like quiet background investors who gain a portion of the profits and have a say in some hiring practices and advertising - generally the business and non-basketball related operations. In some cases, selling to minority owners signals that the owner during negotiations for say, a new stadium/arena, means that they are willing to sell the team or move it to get what they want. Talks about the Oakland Arena have been pretty good so that strategy isn't at play here. Also, Cohan is selling such a small amount that he is keeping a very large controlling share. He probably just wants to recoup on his investment more immediately, before any possible lockout. Thus, there probably won't be too much change, although it does show that Cohan is willing to give up a tiny bit of control, which is good for the warriors.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Warriorfansnc93:</div><div class="quote_post">Blah, sell the whole team Cohan!</div>That's what I'm saying. Cohan was never a basketball fan and he'll never understand it because he doesn't care. He's a suit like Rowell. Be grateful we don't have Donald Sterling though. He'd feel that a 8-74 record was a good year if he made a profit.
