Either Oscar De La Hoya is just passing time on a slow Friday yanking chains on Twitter, or he’s sitting on at least a $1 Billion offer to sell Golden Boy.
On Wednesday, Oscar De La Hoya told The MMA Hour that he’d sell Golden Boy Promotions “eventually.” Then, three sentences later, he said “I’ll never sell my company, I love Golden Boy.”
On Friday, De La Hoya announced on Twitter that he “[j]ust received a 10 figure offer to sell” the company.
Inflation is no joke these days, but $1 Billion is still serious money. Less than a year ago, it would have been 2/3rds of the price for an NBA franchise, with a WNBA team thrown in as a nice complementary piece.
Two days ago, it would have been enough for 21% of an NFL team. And if you’re a baseball fan or an appreciator of a Popeye reference, $1 Billion would happily get you the Kansas City Royals 30 months ago, or, potentially, Golden Boy Promotions today.
As the co-host of the most popular podcast in the world, I can tell you that, with a few exceptions, it’s not illegal to exaggerate or outright lie on the internet. But, even if De La Hoya’s claim of an eye-popping offer to sell his company is not entirely serious, the statement is still significant.
De La Hoya’s interview with The MMA Hour mentioned an eagerness to sell that quickly transformed into a willingness to “to merge, to partner up.”
One of our commenters speculated that De La Hoya’s interest in a merger, coupled with his uncharacteristically glowing praise of “[his] good friend Bob Arum” might be a clue that De La Hoya aspires to merge with and eventually take over Top Rank from the 90 year old Arum.
Whatever the facts are, and whatever De La Hoya’s intentions with his company, it’s clear that a possible change in ownership or structure for Golden Boy is front of mind for him this week.
We learned less than a month ago that Golden Boy would continue working with DAZN for multiple years and multiple fights. We’ll have to wait and see whether or not Oscar De La Hoya keeps ownership of his company through the end of it.
