Investors in New York Liberty, a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team, now include Jack Ma and Karlie Kloss.
Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma and supermodel Karlie Kloss join an illustrious list of investors who have acquired a stake in the New York Liberty women's professional basketball team. The team's majority owners, Joe and Clara Wu Tsai, sold the limited partnership stake for a reported valuation of $450 million, a record for a women's sports franchise.
The equity raise, expected to be between 10% and 20%, was announced last week without disclosing the exact price. This sale follows the Tsais' acquisition of the Liberty from Knicks and Rangers owner James Dolan for between $10 and $14 million in 2019. Prior to this sale, the team's valuation was reported to be $130 million in 2023, as per Sportico.
Ma's association with the Tsais dates back to the late 1990s when Tsai joined Ma in launching Alibaba. Tsai currently serves as the chairman of the Chinese ecommerce giant and is the second-biggest stakeholder. Ma, now 60, made headlines for his diminished public profile and criticisms of Chinese banks, but remains one of the world's wealthiest individuals with a net worth of $26.7 billion.
Other investors in the Liberty include Metropolitan Capital Advisors co-founder and CEO Karen Finerman, who has also recently invested in the league. Finerman, along with a consortium that includes Nike, Michael Dell, Linda Henry, Dee Haslam, Condoleezza Rice, Micky Arison, Laurene Powell Jobs, Tsai, and Washington Mystics owner Ted Leonsis, owns 16% of the league.
Another Liberty investor is philanthropist Samantha Lasry, daughter of former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry. Lasry, who previously worked in the Africa bureau of the State Department, has been involved in various sports ventures and has ties to the NBA.
The new investment will primarily be utilized to establish a new practice facility for the Liberty, set to open in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn ahead of the 2027 WNBA season. This sale represents the latest stride in the growing recognition and investment in women's professional sports.
Jack Ma, former Alibaba co-founder and Karlie Kloss, alongside other investors such as Karen Finerman and Samantha Lasry, have ventured into personal-finance and commerce sectors by investing in the New York Liberty women's basketball team. The reported valuation of the team, following the sale, is a record-breaking $450 million. Ma, who is one of the world's wealthiest individuals with a net worth of $26.7 billion, has a history with the Tsai family, dating back to the late 1990s when Tsai joined Ma in launching Alibaba. The new investment will mainly facilitate the construction of a new practice facility for the Liberty, scheduled to open in 2027, marking another significant step in the growing investment and recognition of women's professional sports, including basketball and real-estate development.
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