Ulysses “Junior“ Bridgeman attends Day 2 of 2023 Invest Fest at Georgia World Congress Center on August 27, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Paras Griffin | Getty Images
Businessman and former NBA player Ulysses Lee “Junior” Bridgeman is buying a 10% stake in the Milwaukee Bucks, according to three sources familiar with the deal. The transaction will value the team at $4 billion.
NBA owners will be notified of the sale in a memo Thursday, added the sources, who asked to remain anonymous because the details of the deal are not public.
Bridgeman, the current owner of Ebony and Jet magazines, is getting a preferred limited partner discount of 15%, or a $3.4 billion valuation, to buy a portion of the team that he played for from 1975 to 1984, the sources said.
He is reported to have a net worth of more than $600 million after finding success in a variety of businesses ranging from fast-food chains to being a Coca-Cola bottling distributor.
Bridgeman and the Bucks did not immediately respond for comment.
Junior Bridgeman #2 of the Milwaukee Bucks looks to make a play against the Boston Celtics during a game played in 1984 at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
Dick Raphael | National Basketball Association | Getty Images
The Milwaukee Bucks are owned by Jimmy and Dee Haslam, Wes Edens, and Jamie Dinan. The three ownership groups each have about a 25% stake in the team.
This would mark the first NBA sale since the league signed an 11-year media agreement with Disney, Comcast‘s NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime in July.
The deal shows the Bucks, a small-market team, are continuing to grow. When former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry sold his 25% stake in the team to the Haslams last April, the team was valued at about $3.2 billion.
The team, which finished third last season in the NBA Eastern Conference, is losing money because it paid a reported $52 million luxury tax last season. The Bucks will likely pay a hefty luxury tax this season as they are paying Giannis Antetokounmpo $48 million, Damian Lillard $45 million and Khris Middleton $31 million for the 2024-2025 season.
The Bucks have two won NBA championships, in 1971 and 2021.
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