Thursday, April 17, 2014

Milwaukee NBA Team Sold by Ex-Senator to Hedge-Fund Billionaires

Herb Kohl, the former U.S. senator, has announced that he is selling  the Milwaukee Bucks to hedge-fund billionaires Wesley Edens and Marc Lasry. Edens is the co-founder of Fortress Investment Group and Lasry is the co-founder of Avenue Capital Group.

The price tag was $550 million, and the new owners will contribute at least $100 million to a new arena, as will Kohl. However, the public will still be taxed heavily to finish out the financing of the arena so that these billionaires can run their business through a souped-up revenue generating building--and that's how crony capitalism plays the game.

It is important to note that Kohl would never have been able to sell the team for $500 million wihout the prospect that the public would be coerced into building a new arena for the team. Kohl, who represented Wisconsin in the Senate from 1989 to 2013, bought the team for just $18 million in 1985, according to ESPN.

The team has the worst record in the NBA for the 2013-14 season, with only 15 wins and 67 losses.

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