These Guys Want To Buy The Sixers
When the news broke that a deal to sell the 76ers was “imminent,” it immediately begged the Seinfeld-esque question: who are these people? Here are quick bios of the businessman reportedly about to purchase the team:
Joshua Harris
Joshua Harris co-founded Apollo Management L.P in 1990. He seems to be at the forefront of this operation. Before 1990 he was a member of the Mergers and Acquisitions Group of Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. and sits on the board of directors of six companies, mostly in plastics. He previously served on the board of directors of Verso Paper, Metals USA, Nalco, Allied Waste Industries, Pacer International, General Nutrition Centers, Furniture Brands International, Compass Minerals Group, Alliance Imaging, NRT Inc., Covalence Specialty Materials, United Agri Products, Quality Distribution, Whitmire Distribution, and Noranda Aluminum.
He does have some Philadelphia roots. He graduated summa cum laude from the Wharton School of Business at Penn and is still a member of Wharton’s Undergraduate Executive Board. He got his MBA from Harvard. He and his wife Marjorie reside in New York and London and have five children.
Jason Levien
Jason Levien is also part of the potential investment group. Levien is a former sports agent, who represented NBA and NFL players. He was also named the assistant general manager for the Sacramento Kings in 2008. In March of 2010 he was promoted to senior vice president, but he resigned four months later. Currently, he is an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley Law School where he teaches sports law. He negotiated deals for Luol Deng, Udonis Haslam and Kevin Martin.
Interestingly, he was also credited as being the speechwriter for Keynote speaker Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. at the 2000 Democratic Convention and had co-authored a policy essay with Ford on campaign finance reform.
David Blitzer
David S. Blitzer is apparently a friend of Harris’ from college – they went to Wharton at roughly the same time, where Blitzer graduated magna cum laude. He is a Senior Managing Director & Co-Chair in the Private Equity Group at the gargantuan financial firm the Blackstone Group, which he joined in 1991. He’s based in London, where he established Blackstone’s corporate private equity investment efforts in Europe. He has played a role in Blackstone investments in companies such as Allied Waste, Houghton Mifflin, the Edward J. Debartolo Corporation and Orangina.
Blitzer also has a connection to the Smurfs cartoon. His father-in-law, Stuart Ross, is the man who is credited with importing the Smurfs from Belgium to US television. Three years ago, Blitzer had his father-in-law arrested for trying to shake him down for $11 million, money Ross apparently wanted to fund a business venture.
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