Marc Rohr and Alex Rodriguez have never given up on their goal of owning the Minnesota Timberwolves, a person close to the situation told the Post Thursday.
On April 10, Rohr attended an NBA Board of Governors evening reception at the NBA’s invitation and interacted with Commissioner Adam Silver, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the situation.
Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor attended a meeting during the day and then postponed the reception to avoid running into Rohr, a person familiar with the matter said.
Mr. Taylor claims that the funds were not available in time for the March 27 deadline for increasing the investment amount regarding the transfer of management rights of the team to Lore and A-Rod, which had been planned for three years. It became a blank page. 36 to 76 percent.
They had agreed to buy the team in 2021 through a three-step process at what is now a relatively cheap valuation of $1.5 billion.
The team’s value rose to about $2.5 billion.
The WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx are also involved in the ownership situation.
Lore and A-Rod say they will hand over $520 million on time to increase their stake and will prevail in court.
Sources said Taylor and Lore are preparing for a May 2 mediation session with a Minnesota judge.
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If the two sides cannot reach a compromise, under the terms of the contract, arbitration will likely take place around July, and a judge will decide who is right.
Rohr, which is not actively raising funds for the March 27 payment and has not invested much in this financing, may not have much concern about acquiring a majority stake. There was speculation that there would be.
Lore is best known for founding Diapers.com and selling his grocery startup Jet.com to Walmart for $3.3 billion in 2016. he told FOX Business in February. He devoted 100 hours a week to his new Wonder Food Delivery business.
His net worth is much higher than A-Rod, who was tasked with raising the funding round.
According to people involved, Mr. Lore’s appearance at the governor’s meeting showed that he was fully committed to the legal battle.
Rohr will be the controlling owner of the Timberwolves, as opposed to his partner A-Rod.
Part of Rohr’s argument is that Taylor bought 4 percent of the team from limited partners about a year ago.
Taylor currently owns 36.1 percent of the Timberwolves, with Lore and A-Rod owning 36 percent. Other investors own smaller stakes.
The theory is that even though Taylor was selling the team, Taylor still held the largest equity position in the Timberwolves when a legal battle ensued to stop Lohr and A-Rod from increasing their stakes. We did this to preserve it.
In other words, Lore and A-Rod believe he planned to block this trade from the beginning to avoid taking control of the team, regardless of whether it met the deadline or not.
The NBA chose to publicly distance itself from the game rather than officiate.
The Timberwolves are scheduled to face the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the NBA Playoffs this week.
Spokespeople for Roa and the Timberwolves declined to comment.
