Henry Abbott from ESPN:
Philadelphia 76ers owner Comcast-Spectacor is in talks to sell the team to a group led by New York-based leveraged buyout specialist Joshua Harris, according to sources.
Negotiations are ongoing and a source with knowledge of the talks called a deal "imminent."
First the Monta Ellis rumor, now this? What in Speezy's name going on?! I've never been the biggest Ed Snider fan, so news of a potential sale excites me initially. Given, I don't know anything about Josh Harris, but here's what Abbott wrote about him, along with his partners:
Harris, 46, co-founded Apollo Global Management, which invests primarily in distressed properties, in 1990. In Forbes' 2011 billionaire rankings, Harris was reported to have a net worth of $1.5 billion.
Other partners in the deal include private equity executive David Blitzer and former NBA player agent and Sacramento Kings executive Jason Levien.
Yes, Harris is a billionaire owner, but as many have pointed out he may just see this as an opportunity to make money, rather than win basketball games. Brian has some good thoughts on it here. We shall see.
Update - (From Derek Bodner)
Just got an official statement from Peter Luukko. Reading between the lines, it's basically confirming that the reports are accurate, without directly admitting it.
"I can confirm that we are in discussions about the future of the team, but these discussions are confidential and we cannot talk about the details. At some point, we may have something more to say about these discussions, but we will not be making any comments at this point."