Magic Johnson Sells Ownership Stake In The Lakers

By Mike Bresnahan
Los Angeles Times

Magic Johnson will forever be connected with the Lakers, but he can't be called part-owner of the team any longer.

Johnson sold his 4.5% ownership stake in the franchise to billionaire season-ticket holder Patrick Soon-Shiong, the team said Monday.

Johnson, 51, has become wealthy from his business ventures since retiring from basketball, including commercial real estate, health clubs and restaurants.

But Johnson, who wore No. 32 on the way to becoming a Hall of Fame guard for the Lakers, is a relative pauper compared with Soon-Shiong, a surgeon and biotech investor ranked No. 46 among the nation's wealthiest people by Forbes magazine this year. His estimated worth is $5.6 billion.

Soon-Shiong, 58, said in a statement that it was "an honor to be part of the Lakers family and the nation's foremost basketball franchise."

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UPDATE:  Even though Johnson reportedly received "an offer he couldn't refuse" for his stake in the Lakers, which was approximately worth $27 million, many of you might still find it hard to believe Johnson would simply sell his ownership share for a big profit.  Well, it seems as though such inclinations could be spot on.

SportsbyBrooks.com has some interesting information regarding Johnson making a run at owning another NBA franchise, and his stake would be a lot bigger than 4.5%.

SEC Charges Mark Cuban With Insider Trading

Uh, isn't this exactly what Martha Stewart went to jail for? Oh well, so much for buying the Cubs--as if MLB owners were going to let him into the old boys club anyway.

WASHINGTON (AP)—Federal regulators on Monday charged Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban with insider trading for allegedly using confidential information on a stock sale to avoid more than $750,000 in losses.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit against Cuban in federal court in Dallas. The agency alleged that in June 2004, Cuban was invited to get in on the coming stock offering by Mamma.com Inc. after he agreed to keep the information private.

The SEC said Cuban knew the shares would be sold below the current market price, and a few hours after receiving the information, told his broker to sell his entire stake of 600,000 shares in the search engine company before the public announcement of the offering.

By selling when he did, Cuban avoided losses exceeding $750,000, according to the SEC. At the time of the offering, Cuban was the largest known shareholder in the Montreal-based company, which later changed its name to Copernic Inc.

The SEC is seeking a court judgment against Cuban finding that he violated the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws, an injunction against future violations, an unspecified civil penalty and restitution of the losses Cuban allegedly avoided.

Unless he is subject to an injunction, Cuban “is likely to commit such violations again in the future,” according to the SEC suit.

Attorneys for Cuban in Washington and Dallas didn’t immediately return telephone calls seeking comment.

Cuban, 50, also owns Landmark Theaters, a large national chain dedicated to independent films, and the HDNet cable television channel.

He is one of the richest people in the world, according to Forbes magazine, which pegged his net worth at $2.3 billion as of March 2007.