Just a day after several media sites, including this one, had Larry Ellison minutes away from a microphone to announce he was going to buy the Golden State Warriors-- came the news that the deal is off.
Instead, Comcast Sports Net, the Bay Area News Group, and CNBC are reporting that Joe Lacob, managing partner at private equity firm Kleiner Perkins, and Peter Guber, chairman of Mandalay Entertainment and producer of "Batman," have won the bid for the team.
Their winning bid, according to CNBC, was a record $450 million. That was apparently enough cash to cause Ellison to fold his hand and go home. The $450 million sale crushes the previous record of $401 million for the Phoenix Suns in 2004.
This bring an end to the Chris Cohan era. Cohan has owned the team since 1995. He put it up for sale this past March.
Most assumed it would go to Ellison. It would have put the team on the new billionaire-owner map with likes of Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Russia's richest man Mikhail Prokhorov who now owns the New Jersey Nets.
The sale, if true, still has to get the approval of the NBA Board of Governors. They are meeting in Vegas this week so the rubber stamp might come quickly.
Lori Preuitt wonders what this means for the location of the franchise. We knew Ellison would move it, but what will Guber-Perkins do with it?
