Bob Iger, the CEO of the Walt Disney Co., and his wife, Willow Bay, are nearing a deal to buy a controlling interest in Angel City FC, multiple outlets reported Wednesday.
Iger and Bay, who is the dean of the Annenberg School of Journalism at the University of Southern California, would replace Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian as the controlling shareholders in the NWSL club.
According to multiple reports, the franchise is being valued at between $250 million and $300 million, with Iger and Bay expected to make an investment of at least $50 million.
Ohanian has served as Angel City’s representative on the NWSL board of governors. The team’s board agreed to hire New York investment bank Moelis & Co. last fall after Ohanian voiced concerns about the franchise’s spending, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.
The San Diego Wave sold for a valuation of $120 million in March, setting the NWSL record.
Angel City FC was launched in July 2020 by actress Natalie Portman, entrepreneur Julie Uhrman and venture capitalist Kara Nortman, who brought in more than 100 investors — a bulk of them women. Initial investors included Jennifer Garner, Serena Williams, Billie Jean King and former U.S. women’s soccer players Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach.
The inclusion of Bay as a co-owner likely was key to the rest of the shareholders. Multiple outlets reported Wednesday that Angel City turned down an offer from Avram Glazer, a part-owner of Manchester United whose family also owns the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL, to take controlling interest.
–Field Level Media
