Ulysses “Junior” Bridgeman attends day two of Invest Fest 2023 at Georgia World Congress Center on August 27, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Paras Griffin | Getty Images
Entrepreneur and former NBA player Ulysses Lee “Junior” Bridgeman will buy 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 via a memo on Thursday, the sources added, asking not to be identified because details of the deal are not public.
Bridgeman, the current owner of Ebony and Jet magazines, will get a 15 percent preferred limited partner discount, or a $3.4 billion valuation, to buy a share of the team he played for from 1975 to 1984, the sources said.
He is reported to have a net worth of over $600 million after finding success in a variety of businesses, from fast food chains to being a Coca-Cola bottling distributor.
The Bucks declined to comment and Bridgeman did not immediately respond to a request 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 a 25% stake in the team.
This would mark the NBA's first sale since the league signed an 11-year media deal with Disney, Comcast's NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime in July.
The deal shows that the small-market Bucks are still growing. 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 $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 won two NBA championships, in 1971 and 2021.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.
