Billionaire Justin Ishbia abandons bid for Twins to boost his stake in White Sox: Sources

New York Times

22-02-2025

CHICAGO — Chicago-area billionaire Justin Ishbia has dropped his pursuit of the Minnesota Twins, The Athletic has learned, and will instead buy more shares from other limited partners to increase his existing minority stake in the Chicago White Sox.
People with knowledge of the discussions believe that the deal will allow Ishbia to take control of the team at some point by buying the shares of longtime owner Jerry Reinsdorf and other partners. But a White Sox official on Friday night disputed that notion, even though it would be unusual for prospective owners to make significant investments for minority shares without the promise of their stakes growing larger.
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'Similar to an opportunity in 2021, White Sox limited partners have received an offer from a third party to purchase their shares in the team, providing liquidity for the limited partners on their long-term investment in the club,' White Sox vice-president of communications Scott Reifert said. 'This offer to limited partners has no impact on the leadership or operations of the Chicago White Sox and does not provide a path to control.'
A representative for Ishbia declined to comment.
The development shocked the Twins, with some officials believing that their ownership situation might be resolved by Opening Day. Now, they've been left to scramble in the search for a new owner. The news couldn't be worse for Twins fans, who dreamed Ishbia would bring a deep wallet and competitive fire to an organization in need, only to see him stay with a division rival.
It was during Ishbia's pursuit of the Twins that the Reinsdorfs came to him and discussed increasing his share of the White Sox, according to a person briefed on the discussions who was not authorized to speak publicly.
The deal, which is being brokered by Chicago-area investment advisors BDT & MSD Partners, still needs league approval, according to a source briefed on discussions. But another source said that if Justin Ishbia takes control of the White Sox, he would be the lead and his brother Mat would be an investor, the reverse of the arrangement they have in Phoenix, where they own the NBA's Suns and the WNBA's Mercury.
White Sox limited partners were recently informed that an investor wanted to buy their shares at a franchise valuation around $1.8 billion, according to people briefed on the discussions who were not authorized to speak publicly. While they aren't required to sell, their stakes would be diluted by this new investor. The deadline for their decision is next Friday.
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The Athletic has confirmed the buyer is Ishbia, who had been a limited partner of the team for years. Sportico reported in January that Ishbia and his brother had bought into the Sox limited partnership group four years ago. At the time, as the White Sox were ascendent on the field, Reinsdorf's two sons, Michael, the president/CEO of the Chicago Bulls, and Jonathan, led a push to buy out the team's limited partners, albeit at a valuation believed to be about half of what it is now.
Some of the partners sold, but many stuck around for a potential bigger payday. These limited partners can now sell their shares to Ishbia. Per team policy, the White Sox don't reveal the names of their limited partners.
Ishbia, 47, has an estimated worth of more than $5 billion according to Forbes. Mat Ishbia led their $4 billion purchase of the Suns and Mercury, which was finalized in 2023.
Though the brothers grew up in suburban Detroit, Justin Ishbia is currently building a massive estate in the North Shore suburb Winnetka on the shores of Lake Michigan. He is a founding partner of private equity firm Shore Capital Partners but most of the family's immense wealth comes from United Wholesale Mortgage, which was founded by Ishbia's father Jeff and is run by his younger brother Mat, the CEO.
Ishbia's love of baseball is no secret.
'The beauty of baseball is that it's not about a star or two,' he told The Athletic last fall when he made a $10 million donation to his alma mater Michigan State. 'It's truly a team sport, and it's a team sport over a long period of time. It's a grind and it's a discipline. It's life. Life is the discipline of doing the same thing over and over again consistently. And that's what the long summer of baseball is all about.'
Reinsdorf, who also led a group to buy a majority stake in the Bulls in 1985, has long said he would advise his family to sell the White Sox after he dies. He's also made it known he's trying to set up the franchise for the future. Before the White Sox had a press conference to announce Chris Getz as the new general manager on Aug. 31, 2023, Reinsdorf talked to a small group of reporters and explained why he wanted to keep working late into his ninth decade.
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'Friends of mine have said, 'Why don't you sell, why don't you get out?'' he told reporters. 'And my answer always has been, 'I like what I'm doing, as bad as it is, and what else would I do?' I'm a boring guy. I don't play golf. I don't play bridge. What else would I do? And I want to make it better, I want to make it better before I go.'
In October, The Athletic reported that Reinsdorf, who turns 89 next week, was exploring a possible sale of the White Sox to a group led by Dave Stewart. Reinsdorf, who has been angling for a new stadium in Chicago, had also met with the mayor of Nashville, sparking concern he could move the team if he didn't get what he wanted in public funding for a new ballpark. The team never publicly commented on the story and Stewart recently returned to the Athletics organization as a special assistant to player development.
While Reinsdorf has always been the controlling partner of the team — his group purchased the club for $19 million in 1981 —he's reportedly never been the majority shareholder. He recently told Crain's Chicago Business he owns more than 19 percent of the team, but he's kept his true stake a mystery for decades.
'No partner knows what I own,' Reinsdorf told the Chicago Tribune in 2013.
A number of these limited partners have been with Reinsdorf since the very beginning, back when he and his partner, the late Eddie Einhorn, were wide-eyed newcomers to the game.
If the deal goes through and Ishbia eventually takes control, this would give the White Sox future local ownership amid uncertainty with their stadium situation. It would also be a boost for a beleaguered fan base that had tired of Reinsdorf's subpar record while owning the team for parts of five decades.
Reinsdorf spent much of the past year working on getting public funding for a new stadium to replace Rate Field, which opened in 1991 across the street from where old Comiskey Park once stood. He looked to a new development in the South Loop called 'The 78' to build a new stadium through a public-private partnership, even having the team's groundskeeper Roger Bossard set up a field there while bringing in possible investors on a boat cruise with retired White Sox players.
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At one point, he was working with the Chicago Bears on a two-pronged approach to getting public funding for two new stadiums, but that fizzled out. The state hasn't been too receptive to the idea of funding another stadium for Reinsdorf as the publicly funded Rate Field still hasn't been paid off yet.
Meanwhile, as the franchise celebrates the 20th anniversary of the 2005 World Series champion team, the Sox's fortunes on the field have never been worse. They set a new modern-day mark for baseball futility with a 41-121 record last year. The team's new RSN isn't available yet on Chicago's largest cable provider, Comcast, and attendance has declined precipitously over the past two seasons.
And in 2023 and 2024, the fans who did show up to games took to chanting 'Sell the team!'
Similar to South Siders, Minnesotans often began 'Sell the team!' chants during a late-season collapse in which the Twins missed the playoffs, including one sly patron who snuck in a 'Defund The Pohlads' sign that was viewed on the stadium's jumbotron. The family has owned the organization since Carl Pohlad bought it for $44 million in 1984, and it's currently operated by a third generation family member, grandson, Joe Pohlad.
The Pohlad family was widely criticized last season for a $30 million payroll reduction made after the team experienced its first playoff success in 21 years. They announced in October that they would begin exploring a sale of the organization. Two months later, Ishbia emerged as a suitor.
Ishbia was aggressive in his pursuit of the Twins, according to multiple sources briefed on the club's sale. One described Ishbia as 'very, very serious' and believed he had the financial wherewithal to buy the club. Noting the Twins were drawing plenty of interest — the franchise last year was estimated to be worth between $1.46 billion and $1.7 billion by Forbes and Sportico, respectively — another person with knowledge of the sale process said last month the goal was to pick a winning bidder by Opening Day.
The Twins believed Ishbia was sincere in his pursuit because Reinsdorf wasn't planning to sell the White Sox, according to a person with knowledge of the sale process. A person briefed on the situation told The Athletic that Ishbia held meetings in December with officials, community leaders and potential minority owners in Minnesota to express his interest in purchasing the team.
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The Twins believed it was a serious attempt. Though one person briefed on the Twins' sale process first heard of the plan in January, club officials expressed surprise on Thursday to learn of Ishbia's agreement with Reinsdorf.
Now, after seeing a billionaire bidder spurn them and instead decide to invest in an AL Central rival, the Twins must regroup.
— The Athletic's Dan Hayes contributed to this report.
(Top photo of Justin Ishbia: Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn Images)