Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Jeb Bush and Venezuelan billionaire recently made offer to buy Florida Marlins baseball team

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2/6/13, "Sports Buzz, Wednesday Buzz Column," Miami Herald, Barry Jackson

"Owner Jeffrey Loria, in recent months, has rejected overtures from a half dozen people who expressed interest in buying the Marlins, including one of South Florida’s most famous residents: Former Florida governor Jeb Bush.

According to a source, Bush made a “large offer” to buy the team this offseason, but Loria told him he’s not selling. A second source said Bush had put together a group of wealthy investors, with Venezuelan media mogul Gustavo Cisneros among possibilities mentioned. Cisneros declined to discuss the Marlins in an e-mail.

Bush -- who was governor from 1999 to 2007 and now runs an education advocacy group, consults and gives speeches – refused to discuss the matter or confirm whether he would have been Marlins CEO and managing partner if Loria had agreed to sell. Managing partner was the title his brother, George W. Bush, held when he co-owned the Texas Rangers before he was elected President.

MLB rules would have allowed Jeb Bush to become Marlins managing partner even if he owned only a small percentage.

Loria, 72, theoretically would have more incentive to sell after 2014, when he no longer would need to share profits with Miami-Dade County. But a friend of Loria insists that barring a health problem or change of heart, he does not want to sell because he loves owning a team.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who has explored buying a baseball team, e-mailed that he hasn’t inquired about the Marlins and doesn’t plan to.

A longtime official in MLB’s offices said MLB always has hoped the Marlins would someday have an owner with deeper pockets than Loria." via Baseball Think Factory

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Gustavo Cisneros $4.2 billion net worth, Forbes

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Major League Baseball ownership attracts a certain type of person. George Soros has tried to buy a baseball team twice: the Dodgers in 2003 and the Washington Nationals in 2005:

3/15/03, "Eli Broad said to join in bid for Dodgers," LA Times, by Sallie Hofmeister and Ross Newhan

"Checketts has managed to sign up financier George Soros as well as a small equity fund, sources said."...

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6/28/05, "Soros' Nats Bid Irks Republicans," Washington Post, by Thomas Heath


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Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/sports-buzz/2013/02/famous-name-rebuffed-in-attempt-to-buy-marlins-heat-canes-fins-chatter.html#storylink

Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/sports-buzz/2013/02/famous-name-rebuffed-in-attempt-to-buy-marlins-heat-canes-fins-chatter.html#storylink=cpy

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