Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Seidler family was nearing a sale of the Padres to private equity mogul José E. Feliciano and his wife Kwanza Jones. That’s expected to come with an eye-popping $3.9 billion valuation that’d shatter the prior high for a franchise sale ($2.4 billion in Steve Cohen’s 2020 purchase of the Mets).
Feliciano and Jones aren’t actually putting up nearly $4 billion, however. Dennis Lin and Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic report that Feliciano and Jones will purchase a 30-40% ownership share. That’d put their investment between $1.17 billion and $1.56 billion. Their exact stake has yet to be determined as they bring aboard additional minority investors. Lin and Vorkunov write that some members of the Seidler family will retain minority shares. Some current minority investors will retain their own stakes.
Padres fans are encouraged to give The Athletic column a full read, as Lin and Vorkunov identify a handful of individuals who might join Feliciano’s ownership group. The most important detail remains unchanged. Feliciano will become the organization’s control person. That’s true even though he’ll own less than 50% of the team, as he’ll hold the plurality share.
The team has yet to officially announce the agreement, though current control person John Seidler had made no secret of the family’s desire to sell. Once the details on the minority investors are sorted out, they’ll need formal approval from at least three-quarters of other ownership groups. That’s essentially a formality. The next quarterly owners meeting is scheduled for June, though they could opt for a virtual vote to expedite the process.
