When Marc Lore sought to scale back his front office duties, months of negotiations followed. Rather than inviting outside capital, which would disrupt operational hierarchy, Lore and Alex Rodriguez kept the restructuring within their existing circle. Minority shareholder Marc Stad stepped up to absorb the bulk of Lore’s holding, and now talks have finalized into a massive shift at the top.

Dragoneer Investment Group founder Marc Stad has acquired controlling ownership of both the Minnesota Lynx and Timberwolves at a $4.5 billion valuation, as first reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania.

Marc Lore will retain a minority investment in both the Lynx and the Timberwolves, while Rodriguez’s equity stake will increase, though the exact division of shares remains undisclosed.

Lore and Rodriguez first agreed to purchase the Timberwolves and Lynx from Glen Taylor in 2021 at a $1.5 billion valuation through a staged acquisition process. The transfer became tangled in March 2024, when Taylor said the buyers had failed to meet a deadline to complete the next phase of the purchase and sought to terminate the agreement.

They challenged that decision, and an arbitration panel ruled in their favor in February 2025. Taylor later chose not to appeal, clearing the way for the NBA Board of Governors to unanimously approve the sale on June 24, 2025.

That resolution matters because Stad is not arriving as an outside bidder. He was part of the ownership group that acquired the franchises from Taylor, and he is effectively moving into Lore’s former position as the controlling partner. The new agreement values the Timberwolves and Lynx at $4.5 billion, three times the price attached to the 2021 deal.

Before taking control of Minnesota’s basketball franchises, Marc Stad built his reputation on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley. A Harvard graduate who earned his MBA at Stanford, Stad founded San Francisco-based Dragoneer Investment Group in 2012. Under his direction, the firm’s regulatory assets under management surged past $37 billion, driven by early growth-equity stakes in tech giants like Airbnb, DoorDash, and Uber. Taking over primary ownership in Minnesota aligns with Stad’s long-term strategy of acquiring high-upside assets.

Stad’s elevation gives Minnesota a new lead owner without changing the group’s broader direction. Lore is scaling back his ownership role to focus on his other business interests, but he will remain a minority investor. Rodriguez, meanwhile, said he will increase his investment and spend more time with the franchises as co-chairman, governor of the Lynx and alternate governor of the Timberwolves.

The proposed governance structure also allows Stad to continue leading Dragoneer. His wife, Elisa Stad, is set to become the Timberwolves’ governor, while Rodriguez retains the principal league-governance role with the Lynx. Those appointments, like the ownership transfer itself, remain subject to league approval.

“We have been working together for years with a shared goal of building the Timberwolves and Lynx into the best organization in basketball on and off the floor,” read a joint statement from Stad, Rodriguez, and Lore issued Friday.

“Our priority is and always will be championships. Our new agreement, pending league approval, is an evolution of the partnership we have built together and a strengthening of our commitment to our team and our culture. While we’re proud of the great work we’ve done, there’s so much more to do and we’re just getting started.”

The $4.5 billion tag now puts Minnesota fourth on the list of largest franchise sales in NBA history. They are behind only the $6.1 billion sale of the Boston Celtics in 2025 and the two sales of the Los Angeles Lakers in the past year, which valued the team first at $10 billion and recently at $12.5 billion.

Rodriguez publicly endorsed the transition on X, calling his involvement with both franchises “one of the great joys” of his professional life and noting he feels “energized” by the new structure. Under the reorganized front office, Rodriguez will maintain his roles as governor of the Lynx and alternate governor of the Timberwolves, taking on an expanded presence as the public-facing co-chairman.

To allow Marc Stad to remain fully committed as managing partner at Dragoneer, his wife, Elisa Stad, will take over as the Timberwolves’ designated governor. 

Stad has taken over the controlling interest at a high mark for both franchises, as both the Lynx and the Timberwolves have made huge strides this year.

Minnesota’s championship pipeline is safe under Marc Stad

Stad, Lore, and Rodriguez’s joint statement reiterated that the organization’s main priority will always be trophies, and the Lynx have consistently been the league’s best under longtime coach Cheryl Reeve. The 59-year-old has guided the team to four WNBA championships and has won the WNBA Coach of the Year honor four times since taking the mantle in 2010.

Under her leadership, the Lynx became the first team in WNBA history to reach 30 wins in three straight seasons, according to ESPN Research. The Lynx have won 16 of their past 17 games this season and have rocketed their way to the playoffs. Their success has been bolstered by strong draft execution, adding TCU standout Olivia Miles with the No. 2 overall pick to join forces with established stars Napheesa Collier and Kayla McBride. Miles stepped onto the floor as an immediate contributor from day one and is having one of the best rookie seasons in the league’s history. 

She has become the second rookie, only behind Clark, to record 600 points and 200 assists in a season. That stat line, paired with an All-Star selection, Western Conference Player of the Week, and Rookie of the Month honors, has placed her squarely in the MVP conversation alongside four-time winner A’ja Wilson.

With both franchises boasting championship-caliber rosters, Stad is taking control of the setup at promising times. The immediate focus now shifts to the NBA Board of Governors, which must formally ratify the $4.5 billion transaction before the upcoming basketball season gets underway.  

The league’s next ownership meetings are scheduled for September 15-16, when the transaction is expected to be considered. Until that approval arrives, Stad is the prospective controlling owner, not yet the formally ratified governor of the Timberwolves and Lynx.