When Alex Rodriguez secured $1,500,000,000 NBA team deal after failed $300,000,000 Mets deal with ex-fiancee Jennifer Lopez
In April 2020, former Yankees star Alex Rodriguez and his ex-fiancee, Jennifer Lopez expressed their interest in acquiring the New York Mets. The team was put up for sale by its owner, the Wilpon family, who had owned a majority stake since 2002.
It was reported that Rodriguez and Lopez enlisted the services of JPMorgan Chase to secure funds to acquire the MLB team. Moreover, it was anticipated that Rodriguez and J-Lo would contribute a sum of approximately $300 million from their personal funds to the project.
Their bid, though, faced competition from other potential buyers, including billionaire hedge fund manager Steve Cohen. Eventually, Cohen's group emerged as the winning bidder, and in Sept. 2020, it was announced that he would purchase the New York Mets for a reported $2.4 billion.
As a result, Cohen's jaw-dropping bid threw a curveball into Lopez and Rodriguez's dreams.
“Alex and I are so disappointed!!,” Lopez wrote in a now-deleted Instagram update.
“We worked so hard the past 6 months with the dream of becoming the first minority couple and the first woman owner to buy her father’s favorite Major League Baseball team with her own hard earned money. We still haven’t given up!!”
Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez were a celebrity power couple who had been dating since early 2017.
During their relationship, Rodriguez and Lopez appeared to have a strong bond and supported each other through thick and thin. They also blended their families, as Rodriguez has two daughters from a previous marriage, and Lopez has twins from her previous marriage.
In March 2019, Rodriguez proposed to Lopez in the Bahamas, and the couple announced their engagement on social media.
They had plans to get married in 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they had to postpone their wedding multiple times.
However, in April 2021, it was announced that Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez decided to end their engagement and relationship. They released a joint statement announcing that they had realized they were better off as friends and would continue to support each other in their future endeavors.
Alex Rodriguez landed mind-blowing $1,500,000,000 NBA team deal in 2021
Months after missing out on the opportunity to acquire the New York Mets, former Yankees star Alex Rodriguez set his sights on an NBA team.
Teaming up with former Walmart e-commerce CEO Marc Lore, Rodriguez made a splash in the NBA ownership landscape by purchasing the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2021. The reported price tag for this transaction is a staggering $1.5 billion.
In Dec. 2022, Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore exercised the first of three call options to acquire the remaining shares of the Minnesota Timberwolves, marking a major step towards their goal of assuming full ownership. Reportedly, the valuation surpassed the previous acquisition made by Lore and Rodriguez in 2021.
As per developments in May 2023, the Timberwolves' potential new owners have taken another significant step towards their majority ownership. The duo fulfilled their commitment by making a substantial payment of $290 million, the second of three installments agreed in their acquisition deal.