Eben Novy-Williams of Sportico reported Wednesday that Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon has agreed to purchase the Portland Trail Blazers from the estate of the late Paul Allen for more than $4 billion. Last October, Forbes valued the team at $3.5 billion.
Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft, purchased the Blazers for $70 million in 1988. He died in 2018 after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2009. Since his death, the team has been run by his estate, led by his sister Jody Allen. Paul’s will dictated that his sports holdings should be sold following his death, per a statement released by the team in May. The proceeds from the sale are expected to go toward philanthropic efforts. Allen’s estate also announced that it would currently keep its ownership stake in both the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Sounders; both franchises were owned or part-owned by Allen prior to his death and currently run by his estate.
The 53-year-old Dundon has been the majority owner of the Hurricanes since 2018, and the franchise has been hugely successful under his ownership, reaching the playoffs in each of the past seven seasons and making it all the way to the conference finals three times during that period. He was also an investor in the Alliance of American Football, putting $250 million into the project in January 2019 before the league suspended operations in April of that year. In addition to those efforts, Dundon is a significant investor in the growing sport of pickleball, owning the retail site Pickleball Central and playing a role in launching pickleball.com.
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