(Wall Street Journal) — He meets the locals at Charlotte’s Selwyn Avenue Pub, a bar with $3 beers. He hobnobs with prospective ticket buyers at the arena. Earlier this year, he surprised a room full of fresh-out-of-college sales employees with a box of donuts. You may know Michael Jordan as the greatest basketball icon of all time. Now meet his alter ego, MJ the friendly basketball proprietor. To buy 80% of the NBA’s struggling Charlotte Bobcats in February, Mr. Jordan had to do something he wasn’t accustomed to doing in his many years of endorsing products: put some of his own money on the line. To complete the purchase, two people familiar with the matter said he assumed interest payments on about $185 million in debt and had to raise about $55 million to cover payments to the team’s other owners. Given the team’s current liabilities, two people familiar with the team’s finances said Mr. Jordan will have to personally cover at least $20 million in losses this year.
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