The ownership battle for the Timberwolves between majority shareholder Glen Taylor and minority shareholders Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez is adding some financial heft.
Michael Bloomberg has agreed to join the ownership group of Lore and Rodriguez, sources confirmed to the Star Tribune. The former mayor of New York City is the 10th-richest man in America and has a net worth of $96.3 billion, according to Forbes.
The contentious and public battle over who owns the Timberwolves and Lynx is scheduled to be determined soon at an undisclosed office in Minneapolis with Taylor, Lore and Rodriguez taking part in forced arbitration.
Taylor, who also owns the Star Tribune, announced that the Timberwolves were no longer for sale on March 28, saying that the window for Lore and Rodriguez to finalize controlling interest of the Lynx and Wolves had expired.
Lore and Rodriguez had been taking part in a structured transfer of ownership tranches since they purchased their first 20% stake in 2021 after entering a deal to buy the Wolves and Lynx from Taylor for $1.5 billion. Lore and Rodriguez currently own 36% of the franchises, with limited partners owning their other 4%.
Bloomberg's addition to the ownership group wouldn't have a direct impact on the arbitration, a process that could take several months, but would add financial resources should Lore and Rodriguez prevail in the dispute.
When the deal fell through in March, Lore and Rodriguez told the Star Tribune that they disputed the notion, which has dogged them throughout the process, that they didn't have the money to complete the sale.
"I've never been in better financial position," Lore said. "Way better now than I was 2½ years ago when we did this deal. … I'm flush with cash. I've got literally hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank, ready to invest in the Wolves and bring home a championship. We're never in a better spot."
Taylor has maintained that Lore and Rodriguez didn't meet the contractual obligations to complete the sale. Lore and Rodriguez have said that Taylor simply changed his mind because the value of the franchises has soared as the Timberwolves became one of the best teams in the NBA this season.
Since the deal was penned in 2021, the teams' collective value has reportedly risen 87% from $1.57 billion to $2.9 billion.
The Bloomberg development was first reported by the Athletic.
