Before phoenix sun owner Robert Sarver is giving $20,000 in personal bonuses to many of the team’s employees and is also donating $5 million to the team’s charity, sources told ESPN on Thursday.
Sarver sold the Sun and WNBA’s Phoenix Water to billionaire mortgage lender Mat Ishbia after a NBA’s 10-month investigation into Sarver .’s conduct for nearly two decades as a majority owner of Suns. The NBA investigation, conducted by New York-based law firm Wachtell Lipton, comes after a ESPN investigation announced in November 2021.
In total, Ishbia bought a 57% controlling stake in Suns for $2.28 billion, the sources said, with Sarver personally selling his 37% stake to Ishbia for $1.48 billion la. After taxes, Sarver is expected to collect nearly double what he and a team paid the team in 2004 – followed by a record $401 million from former Suns owner Jerry Colangelo.
Suns employees were informed of Sarver’s bonus and charitable contributions in an email from Ishbia on Thursday morning. Those eligible for the $20,000 bonus, which they will receive in their next paycheck, are full-time employees starting on or before February 15, 2022. Approximately 250 to 300 employees will be available. affected by the bounty, the sources said.
“I would say, what a great way to move on,” a current Suns employee told ESPN.
Ishbia is was introduced as the team’s new owner on February 8 in Phoenix and during his introductory press conference, he thanked Sarver for choosing him as the team’s new owner.
Ishbia also later emphasized that he wanted to focus on the team’s workplace culture, a point he reiterated in separate remarks to employees before his press conference and the following morning during the meeting. all staff in the team arena.
“Family. You’ll hear from us a lot,” Ishbia told staff the morning after he was introduced, according to group sources. “And I don’t know all the details of what happened before, but I do know what we’re going to talk about moving forward. That’s what matters now. Present and future are things. we will focus on. Family, team, unity, work together, care for each other.”
