The valuation soared 30 times, and Cai Chongxin made another profit

Tsai Chongxin and his wife appeared.

According to the American "The Athletic", the New York Liberty Team of the Women's Professional Basketball League (WNBA) sold their equity at a valuation of US$450 million (over 3.2 billion yuan), setting a record for the highest valuation of women's professional sports clubs.

Behind the team is a couple familiar to the outside world - Joe Tsai and his wife Clara Wu Tsai. They bought the Liberty team for more than $10 million in 2019, and Wu Minghua made the management decision, and now the valuation has risen sharply.

has made sports hobbies a billion or ten billion business, which is not the first time for Cai Chongxin. The Brooklyn Nets' valuation has doubled in just a few years. Now, similar scenes are happening again. The valuation rose 30 times in 5 years, and the couple made a big profit. Information shows that the New York Liberty sold 20% of its equity to a number of individual investors, but there is no clear report on the buyers. The funds raised by

will be used to build a new training base for the team - in March this year, the Liberty announced the construction of a 75,000 square foot (about 7,300 square meters) training facility, which will cost $80 million, located in Greenport, and is expected to open in 2027.

$450 million, this is the latest valuation record of the current professional women's sports team.

Recalling in 2019, Tsai Chongxin and Wu Minghua acquired shares of the New York Liberty from New York Knicks boss James Dolan for $10 million to $14 million. At that time, the libero was regarded as the marginal team of the WNBA due to his sluggish record. This investment was not favored, and it was even regarded as a "public welfare" move.

But the couple is firmly optimistic about the potential of women's sports. After the acquisition was completed, Wu Minghua became the management decision-maker of the Liberty team.

In 2019, Wu Minghua took the lead in moving the team's home court from a suburban venue to the Barclays Center where the Nets are located, and began to systematically improve the team's infrastructure and operational level, bringing more benefits and professional assistance to players. The following year, the Liberty team's team began to be renewed and signed big-name players to ensure the championship.

reported that in 2023, Wu Minghua even personally persuaded Brianna Stewart, the biggest free agent at the time, to join the team. In the same year, the Liberty reached the WNBA Finals - this was the first time after 21 years. In October 2024, the Liberty won their first WNBA Championship trophy.

As a result, the New York Liberty's valuation rose. The Liberians were valued at $130 million in June last year, and now it is $450 million. This also means that since Wu Minghua and his wife took the acquisition, the valuation of this team has soared by 30 times.

Not long ago, Wu Minghua said in an interview with Bloomberg that she believes the Liberty is expected to become the first women's sports team to have a valuation of $1 billion by the mid-2030s. There is no doubt that under their operation, the Liberty has become one of the most commercially imaginative targets in women's professional sports.

A study shows that the cumulative value of the WNBA and NWSL (National Women's Football League) is expected to grow by $1.6 billion in three years as audiences, business income and media revenue increases. Therefore, many teams are exploring potential sales paths, and Wu Minghua and Cai Chongxin already have a lot of experience in this regard.

Host valuation is 40 billion

Retrospectively, Tsai Chongxin, Wu Minghua and his family are also owners of the Brooklyn Nets - the Nets and the Liberty team belong to the parent company BSE Global, and the latter is in charge of the Tsai Chongxin family.

Like buying the Liberty many years ago, they bought the Nets wholly owned in batches a few years ago, with a total transaction amount of more than $3 billion, which was a sensation: In April 2018, Cai Chongxin personally invested 49% of the Nets' shares, and the final price of the transaction exceeded $1 billion; then in August 2019, he acquired the remaining 51% of the shares and the Barclays Center for a record $2.35 billion, and he also became the first Chinese boss in the NBA in the true sense.

In June 2024, Cai Chongxin and his wife sold part of their shares in BSE Global to the Koch family, with a total transaction value of US$6 billion (about RMB 43 billion). This amount broke the NBA historical record and became one of the highest valuations in North American professional sports history.

This valuation was beyond the expectations of many people. Prior to this, American sports finance company Sportico valued the Nets at $3.98 billion and the New York Liberty valuation was $130 million. The total transaction valuation exceeded expectations. One important reason is that the NBA may reach a broadcast contract of up to $76 billion in 11 years with TV broadcasters in the future, which has greatly increased the nets' nets' value in the Mets.

Tsai Chongxin said in an internal letter to BSE employees: "I want to emphasize that both parties are committed to making necessary investments in the team to build a sustainable culture of success, and are also committed to investing in talents and infrastructure to bring the best sports and entertainment to fans and audiences."

He has analyzed the economic benefits brought by buying a team. There is a mechanism for 30 teams in the NBA that are both competitive and profitable, and the economic distribution is fair. For example, TV transfer income will be divided equally between teams, "it ensures that no one in the investment league will lose too much."

And with the completion of the sale, the Tsai Chongxin and his wife received a significant return - an investment that once exceeded $3 billion, corresponding to the current total valuation of $6 billion. Now, the company's New York Liberty team's valuation has risen again, and they once again easily sold their team's equity at an amount higher than the original acquisition price..

Top couples in the venture capital circle regard hobbies as careers

At this point, Cai Chongxin and Wu Minghua appeared in the public eye.

The venture capital circle is no stranger to Cai Chongxin, and he is regarded as an idol by countless VC/PE practitioners. In 1999, Cai Chongxin met Jack Ma. At that time, this grassroots entrepreneurial team was looking for investment in VCs, and Tsai Chongxin worked in the Hong Kong office of the venture capital department of Investor AB in Sweden. The investment was not negotiated in the end, but the atmosphere of Alibaba's entrepreneurial team attracted Cai Chongxin at that time.

After this, there is a well-known story: Cai Chongxin resolutely returned to Hong Kong and quit his venture capital job with an annual salary of US$700,000 and went to Hangzhou to join Alibaba, which has no future.

It was Tsai Chongxin, who came from a venture capital organization, who led Alibaba on a professional financing path, including the game with SoftBank Masayoshi Son; leading the acquisition of Yahoo China and Yahoo's investment in Alibaba; promoting Alibaba's successful listing... In May 2013, Tsai Chongxin turned to be responsible for the group's strategic investment until he retired from the position of head of Alibaba's strategic investment in 2019. After going around, he is still the chairman of the board of directors of Alibaba Group.

Wu Minghua first obtained a bachelor's degree in arts and a master's degree in international policy studies from Stanford, and then won an MBA at Harvard University. After graduation, he joined American Express, a Fortune 500 company, and then took the position of vice president of Asia.

Less well known is that she also briefly joined Alibaba. During his tenure as group consultant and general manager of Hong Kong business at Alibaba, Wu Minghua worked with many years of resources and professional financial experience to offer suggestions with Tsai Chongxin, and provided many key ideas and decisions for Alipay.

Both are "sports fans". It is natural that they both have a special liking for sports. Once, after resigning as Alibaba's core management position, Tsai Chongxin devoted more energy to the field of sports. When he was studying at Yale, Tsai Chongxin was a super basketball fan and was very passionate about sports.

In an interview, Tsai Chongxin talked about the relationship between sports and business. "I think sports not only teach you discipline and diligence, but also teach you how to face failure. If you fall and if you lose the game, you have to cheer up. Many principles apply to business."

Just last month, the Asian College Basketball League officially announced that it had completed a seed round of financing led by Lanchi Capital, which is the family office co-founded by Tsai Chongxin, and is headquartered in Hong Kong.

Looking back at Cai Chongxin and Wu Minghua, they have the same vision and cognition. They advance together in their respective fields, with consistent goals and evenly matched.

I remember that in the WNBA Finals in October last year, when the New York Liberty won the first championship in history, the boss Wu Minghua rushed to the stage to raise the trophy and roar with the players - this may be the best portrayal of satisfaction brought by investment interest.