According to various reports, Oprah Winfrey is looking to team up with high-powered businessmen Larry Ellison and David Geffen to purchase the Los Angeles Clippers. The NBA Board of Governers are likely to force disgraced owner Donald Sterling to sell the team after he was banned for life by league commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday.
Oprah Winfrey considering teaming with David Geffen & Larry Ellison to make bid to buy Clippers, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/7biRYYb0Nt
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 30, 2014
If this ownership group comes together and is approved by the powers to be in the NBA, it would automatically become one heck of a change from Sterling. In addition to that, the trio mentioned in ESPN’s report wield a ton of power within the private sector.
Oprah’s net worth currently stands at $2.9 billion. Outside of her world-famous talk show, which came to a conclusion in 2011, Oprah’s private-sector success included the magazine publication O, which Fortune called the most successful magazine startup in industry history. She owns Oprah Radio, which is a 24-hour station on XM Radio.
Larry Ellison, one of the most successful busines moguls to come from the Dot.com boom of the 1990’s, has a net worth that exceeds $50 billion. Mainly due to the technology giant Oracle, Ellison is currently ranked as the fifth-richest person in the world, according to Forbes.
For his part, David Geffen is a music label mogul. He’s produced music from some of the greatest artists of all-time, including John Lennon, Aerosmith and Neil Young. In addition to that, Geffeni co-founded the DreamWorks studio with Steven Spielberg. His net worth currently exceeds $6 billion.
While it’s rather obvious that Ellison, who attempted to purchase the Golden State Warriors a few years back, is the financial power-player here, Geffen and Oprah bring their own level of star power to the mix.
All financial information provided by Forbes.
Photo: GQ.com