Report: Investment firm co-founders offered $900 million to minority partners originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Washington Football Team majority owner Dan Snyder is blocking the sale of 40 percent of the team to billionaire co-founders of Clearlake Capital, Behdad Eghbali and José Feliciano and Feliciano's wife, Kwanza Jones, for $900 million because of a feud with one of the minority team owners looking to sell his shares, according to a report in the Washington Post.
The report comes nearly a week after a report surfaced that three of the team's minority partners, Fred Smith, Robert Rothmann and Dwight Scharr, asked a federal judge to step in to stop Snyder from standing in the way of the sale. According to the New York Times, Snyder offered to buy out Smith and Rothmann but exercised first right of refusal to block the sale of Scharr's 15 percent.
The Post reported the $900 million figure represented the minority shareholders' decision to lower the asking price. Smith reportedly has tried to sell his shares since 2019 and the other two minority shareholders joined in to sell theirs in the spring.
The dispute is just the latest in a litany of problems off the field for the Washington Football Team.
The team is under NFL investigation for widespread allegations of sexual harrassment and verbal abuse inside the organization. And earlier this week, the Post reported on a sexual harassment claim against the head of a foundation that had been backed by Snyder.
But according to the Post, the lowered price that the minority shareholders asked for reflected their belief that the NFL will not force Snyder to sell his stake in the team.
Snyder purchased the team in 1999. Smith, Rothmann and Scharr joined the ownership group in 2003. At the time, the team was valued around $1.5 billion, according to the Baltimore Business Journal.
