Posted on 08/19/2014 9:42:47 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Steve Ballmer is fired up about owning the Clippers.
When Steve Ballmer agreed to purchase the Los Angeles Clippers for a reported $2 billion, many felt he was overpaying for the franchise simply because the team was a toy he wanted and he was willing to pay whatever it took to make that happen.
When comparing the sale price to the team's revenues and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization), it does appear that Ballmer's bid was completely out of whack with what others have paid for NBA teams in recent years.
Ballmer addressed this issue on "The Dan Patrick Show" when he was asked by Mike Florio if his purchase of the Clippers is an investment or "a personal thing." His answer seems to suggest that he is content if the team is not a great financial investment.
"I have a passion for basketball. That's why I made this investment. I want to run not just an excellent team but an excellent experience and an excellent business. If we run an excellent business we'll be more excellent as a team, everything will kind of fit together well. I believe this will be a perfectly decent investment. If you were trying to strike it rich you might buy something else. I think most people think I paid certainly a premium price. But I don't think it is going to be a bad investment. Certainly its got more earnings and its a lot cheaper than a lot of tech stocks you find these days."
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Clippers will always be #2 in LA.
The played better than the Lakers last season. And Kobe Bryant isn’t getting any younger.
and Ballmer will always be a douche.
Doesn’t matter what their records are, the Lakers will always own LA.
Meet the new douche, same as the old douche.
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Now watch Ballmer make nothing but money on extorting a new arena out of LA or in moving the team to Seattle to take the place of the SuperSonics.
It’s a good market to be #2 in though. The Clippers have never lacked for revenue. And if they can stay competitive and the Lakers continue being not competitive they could hit the top. Nothing is permanent.
He's a disgusting, boorish man. In 14 years he did nothing for Microsoft.
LOL. Stop digging Steve! Stop digging! There is no way to justify this on economic grounds so the best advice is just shut up!!
BSOD coming soon to an NBA game near you......
5) Ballmer has made horrible investments. In what can only be seen as an effort to attempt to compensate for Microsoft’s shortcomings in innovation, Ballmer has gambled with increasingly ill-conceived acquisitions.
In searching for the exact Santayana quote, I think a Vonnegut passage is more apropos:
“We're doomed to repeat the past no matter what. That's what it is to be alive. It's pretty dense kids who haven't figured that out by the time they're ten.... Most kids can't afford to go to Harvard and be misinformed.”
Perhaps he will change the name of the team to “the Ballmers” and move the team to Seattle. Of course they will replace a player every Tuesday and call it a security upgrade.
Because he can.
Steve Ballmer thought Windows 8 was going to be a big success.... He paid 4 times more then any other team was worth. He is nuts.
Meanwhile Donald Sterling is crying all the way to the bank.
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