Basketball legend Michael Jordan agreed to sell his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets to an ownership group featuring J. Cole.
The Hornets announced Jordan’s deal with an ownership group led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall on Friday (June 16). J. Cole secured a minority stake in the NBA team as one of the group’s investors.
Plotkin became a minority owner of the Hornets in 2019. Schnall has been a minority owner of the Atlanta Hawks since 2015, but he is currently in the process of selling his stake in the Hawks.
Jordan will remain with the Hornets as a minority owner of the team. He was the NBA’s first former player who became a majority owner in the league.
The six-time NBA champion purchased the Charlotte franchise, which was then known as the Bobcats, from BET founder Bob Johnson in 2010. Jordan bought a minority stake in the team in 2006. A few years later, he paid roughly $180 million to take majority control of the team.
J. Cole and country singer Eric Church were the most notable investors in the Hornets’ new ownership group. The other investors included Chris Shumway, Dan Sundheim, Ian Loring, Dyal HomeCourt Partners, Amy Levine Dawson and Damian Mills.
