Home Profiles The San Francisco 49ers Are Selling A Stake In The Team For The Highest Pro Sports Valuation Ever

The San Francisco 49ers Are Selling A Stake In The Team For The Highest Pro Sports Valuation Ever

by CelebStyling

It’s been a busy week for the San Francisco 49ers. First, the crew dropped one of many extra spectacular schedule release videos for the 2025 season, an homage to the traditional “Oregon Trail” online game collection. And now, proprietor Jed York is nearing a deal to promote a minority stake within the crew at a HUGE valuation.

The sale is to a few Bay Area households, who will obtain a 6.2% stake within the franchise. The Khosla household will obtain the most important share at 3.1%, the Deeters will purchase 2.1%, and the Griffiths will get a 1% stake. Each of the consumers comes from the enterprise capital world.

Per stories, the valuation of the 49ers on this deal is $8.5 billion. That could be the very best valuation in a sale in skilled sports activities historical past. The prolonged York household managed a mixed 97% of the 49ers earlier than the sale, so that means a roughly $527 million windfall.

San Francisco 49ers proprietor Jed York. (Ryan Kang/Getty Images)

The York household had been contemplating promoting a stake price as a lot as 10% in current months. With this buy being 6.2% of the crew, the consumers could be placing up a collective $527 million for his or her shares, assuming the deal will get finalized.

With 5 Super Bowl victories and eight NFC Championship crowns throughout franchise historical past, the 49ers are one of the crucial worthwhile groups within the league. The crew had a down 12 months final season however reached the Super Bowl in 2023 and 2019.

This sale is the most recent in a collection of franchises promoting a minority stake at astronomical values. Philadelphia Eagles proprietor Jeffrey Lurie offered an 8% portion of the crew to 2 consumers final 12 months. The deal, which was authorized by the NFL in March, valued the Eagles at $8.3 billion. Lurie will nonetheless retain 85% of the crew. In December 2024, Miami Dolphins proprietor Stephen Ross offered 13% of the Dolphins to 2 consumers; the sale put the franchise worth at $8.1 billion.

In the meantime, the Los Angeles Chargers homeowners want to promote a part of the crew. The Chargers have not had the franchise success of the 49ers, however on the price these offers are taking place, we simply may even see one other report sale earlier than too lengthy.

Meet the New Investors

If the deal is finalized on the reported $8.5 billion valuation, the three Bay Area households will collectively pay round $527 million for a mixed 6.2% stake within the 49ers. Here’s a better take a look at who they’re and what they’re placing on the desk:

Vinod Khosla – Estimated funding: $263.5 million (3.1%)

A veteran of Silicon Valley, Vinod Khosla co-founded Sun Microsystems in 1982 and later launched Khosla Ventures, a enterprise capital agency based mostly in Menlo Park. He has made daring bets in clear power, biotech, and meals tech, backing corporations like Impossible Foods and Square. Khosla can be notable for having spent over a decade in a authorized battle with the state of California over public access to a beach near his property in San Mateo County — a case that grew to become a flashpoint within the debate over personal property rights versus coastal entry. Khosla is price $9 billion

Byron Deeter – Estimated funding: $178.5 million (2.1%)

A associate at Bessemer Venture Partners, Deeter is a key determine within the cloud computing area. He has led early investments in corporations like Twilio, DocuSign, and LinkedIn. A UC Berkeley graduate and former rugby participant, Deeter stays a distinguished determine within the Bay Area startup ecosystem.

William Griffith – Estimated funding: $85 million (1.0%)

Griffith is a associate at ICONIQ Capital, a low-profile San Francisco agency that manages cash for a number of the tech world’s greatest names. He performed soccer at Dartmouth and holds an MBA from Stanford. His background combines personal fairness, enterprise capital, and household workplace wealth administration.

The York and DeBartolo Families

The San Francisco 49ers have been managed by the identical prolonged household since 1977, when Edward DeBartolo Jr. acquired the crew from the Morabito household. The buy was funded by his father, Edward J. DeBartolo Sr., a pioneering actual property developer who constructed one of many largest shopping center empires within the United States. At its peak, The DeBartolo Corporation developed greater than 80 malls throughout the nation and performed a key position in shaping the fashionable suburban retail expertise.

In 1996, the DeBartolo Corporation merged with Simon Property Group, forming what’s now the most important mall operator on this planet. That merger helped cement the household’s monetary legacy, at the same time as possession of the 49ers shifted within the years to come back.

Eddie Jr. served because the 49ers’ hands-on proprietor in the course of the crew’s dynastic run within the Eighties and early Nineteen Nineties, profitable 5 Super Bowls. But in 1998, he grew to become embroiled in a federal corruption case involving a Louisiana on line casino license and former governor Edwin Edwards. He pleaded responsible to failing to report a felony, was fined $1 million, and acquired a one-year suspension from the NFL. Rather than return, he stepped apart.

In 2000, management of the crew was formally transferred to his sister, Denise DeBartolo York, as a part of a household settlement. Her son, Jed York, progressively assumed day-to-day management and is now CEO.

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