Sterling retracts support for $2 B Clippers sale to ex-Microsoft chief

A mere five days after agreeing to the sale of his Los Angeles Clippers basketball team to former Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer for $2 billion, beleaguered entrepreneur Donald Sterling did a 180 and reversed his position on the acquisition.

The 80 year-old expressed his disapproval of the sale negotiated by his wife Shelly and will be pursuing a $1 billion antitrust lawsuit against the National Basketball Association. According to his lawyer Max Blecher in an email, Sterling's decision to pursue the case was for the fact that the sports league refused to revoke the lifetime ban and a $2.5 million fine issued on Sterling following his racist comments about minorities to his girlfriend in a leaked audio recording.

Bloomberg said that last week, the real-estate billionaire agreed to drop his opposition to the sale of the basketball team he has owned since 1981. On June 5, Blecher said that it was an understanding that as Sterling will allow the sale to go through, the NBA will no longer pursue the fine and will lift the ban on his client.

Sterling's troubles started when celebrity gossip site TMZ released a secret recording of conversations between Sterling and V Stiviano. In the recordings, Sterling told his girlfriend that he did not like her bringing black people to Clippers games or publish online pictures of herself with former Los Angeles Lakers player and Hall of Famer Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

Ballmer emerged as the favored bid among at least four other suitors, Bloomberg said. each of the bids reportedly shattered the previous record for the price of an NBA team at $550 million, which was paid in April for the Milwaukee Bucks.

The day after Sterling's wife concluded the sales agreement with Ballmer, the entrepreneur sued the NBA and charged the sports league for violating his rights under the state constitution of California by banning him from games, fining him and pursuing steps for a forced sale based on a secretly recorded conversation.

Tags

Donald Sterling, Los Angeles Clippers sale, former Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer, National Basketball Association

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