Lemieux and Pens' co-owner offer to buy Pirates

[Shmee]

It's tough to find good info on the "partnership", but it looks like Lemieux was owed $30M, which was turned into equity. There's no way the team was worth 300M, so he's in less than 10%. I can't really find much about Burkle's part, but he's worth more than 3.5 billion, so while Lemieux might be the chairman (basically the face of the organization) and call a lot of the shots, it looks like the cash is really with Burkle, and in theory, he could probably take over. Not that any of this really matters at all to anything in this thread - I was just curious.

According to Forbes, when Lemieux bought the franchise it was worth $107 million. At their last franchise valuations in November, they put the value of the Penguins at $222 million. While Burkle's share is currently unknown, Lemieux was definitely the majority owner when he took over. His $30 million owed salary was converted into owner's equity, and he paid additional money on top of that for the team. He may or may not still be majority owner, but he's definitely in for more than 10%.

For comparison, the most valuable franchise in the NHL according to Forbes is the Maple Leafs at $470 million. The Coyotes pull up the rear at $138 million.