Pistons owner to buy 27% stake of Chargers, ending Spanos family dispute

Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores is set to buy a 27% stake of the Chargers, two people familiar with the transaction told The Times on Friday. They spoke on the condition they not be identified because of the confidential nature of the deal.

The transaction will resolve a long-running dispute between Dea Spanos Berberian and her siblings — including Chargers controlling owner Dean Spanos — that spilled into court in April 2021.

Gores and his wife, Holly, are buying Spanos Berberian’s share of the franchise, the people familiar with the transaction said, but he won’t control or have a path to control the organization and will not influence the day-to-day operations of the team. Dean Spanos will retain full control of the franchise as he and his siblings, Michael Spanos and Alexis Spanos Ruhl, own approximately 69% of the Chargers.

While alleging her brother’s mismanagement of the team led to debt that jeopardized the family’s wealth, Spanos Berberian hoped to force a sale of the team through a petition filed by attorney Adam Streisand. He previously represented Jeanie Buss in her fight to gain control of the Lakers from her brothers, and also Steve Ballmer in the proceeding that forced Donald Sterling to sell the Clippers.

As the litigation continued, the person familiar with the transaction said, Spanos Berberian instead shifted her focus to leaving the ownership group.

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Gores will buy the 24% share held by Spanos Berberian and an additional 3% of the franchise — 1% each from shares owned by Dean Spanos, Alexis Spanos Ruhl and Michael Spanos — for estate planning purposes.

The price for Gores’ stake in the franchise is not known although the Chargers are valued at roughly $5.38 billion, according to average figures from Forbes, Sportico and CNBC.

The sale still must be approved by the NFL owners next month at a regularly scheduled quarterly meeting in Atlanta on Oct. 15-16.

Gores, whose net worth is estimated to be $11.8 billion by Bloomberg, is the founder of Platinum Equity. He and the Beverly Hills-based private equity firm bought the Pistons in 2011 before he became sole owner of the NBA team in 2015. The purchase of the Chargers was not affiliated with PE, according to the Associated Press.