Ted Leonsis’s Monumental Sports & Entertainment is growing. Tuesday, the company announced its latest investor.
Billionaire Jeff Skoll has partnered with MSE.
“Excited to announce Jeff Skoll as the newest minority investor in Monumental Sports & Entertainment,” Ted Leonsis wrote. “Jeff is a longtime friend, philanthropist, and social entrepreneur. Jeff becomes latest investor in our growing platform enterprise which includes the Washington Capitals, Wizards, Mystics, Go-Go, Capital One Arena, and NBC Sports Washington RSN, as well as our esports teams and investments. Welcome Jeff!”
Leonsis, who just recently completed the full purchase of NBC Sports Washington, is reportedly the front-runner to buy the Washington Nationals in a group along with billionaire David Rubenstein.
Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Steve Jobs, bought a stake in MSE in 2017.
Skoll was born in Montreal and graduated from the University of Toronto in 1987. He made his fortune as the first full-time hire and president of eBay, joining the company in 1995. Skoll cashed out a portion of his company holdings, yielding him $2 billion. Skoll is currently worth $4.3 billion per Forbes. He is currently the 636th richest person on the planet and the seventh wealthiest person in Canada.
Skoll, a philanthropist, also founded the production company Participant Media which has had a lot of success.
The company has produced, financed, or co-produced over 100 films. Its films have been nominated for 73 Academy Awards, and have won 18, including Best Picture for Green Book and Spotlight.
Skoll’s first films — Syriana, Good Night and Good Luck, North Country, and Murderball– — landed 11 Oscar nominations in 2006.
Skoll also created Capricorn Investment Group in 2000 “to demonstrate that it is possible to invest profitably while driving sustainable, positive change” per Crunchbase.
Capricorn invested in Tesla in 2006. On Twitter, Skoll called Elon Musk “a dear friend” and “colleague” who deserves to be “treasured” in July 2022.
Skoll currently lives in Palo Alto, California, and was one of Joe Biden’s biggest donors in 2020.
Here’s the full release from MSE:
Monumental Sports & Entertainment Announces Jeff Skoll as Newest Partner in Ownership Group
Skoll becomes latest investor in the growing platform enterprise which includes Washington Capitals, Wizards and Mystics and Capital One Arena
Washington, D.C. – Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE) today announced Jeff Skoll as the newest minority investor in the ownership group which owns and/or operates multiple team franchises, venues and media enterprises, including the recent acquisition of the linear network NBC Sports Washington. It is a fast-growing platform which is on track to becoming one of the most valuable sports and entertainment enterprises in the world.
Skoll was the first full-time employee and first President of eBay and developed the company’s inaugural business plan and led its successful initial public offering. A philanthropist and social entrepreneur, Jeff is working to bring life to his vision of a sustainable world of peace and prosperity.
As founder of the Jeff Skoll Group, Jeff has created an innovative portfolio of philanthropic and commercial enterprises, which includes the Skoll Foundation, Capricorn Investment Group, and Participant. Jeff is also cofounder of The Rise Fund, a global impact fund investing in entrepreneurial companies.
Skoll joined the Giving Pledge in 2010 and has received numerous global honors, including the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy and the Jefferson Awards: S. Roger Horchow Award for Outstanding Public Service by a Private Citizen. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2012.
Skoll joins an exceptional group of partners as the newest member of the ownership group, led by Ted Leonsis, who is Founder, Chairman, Principal Owner and Chief Executive Officer of Monumental Sports & Entertainment.
Monumental Sports & Entertainment located in Washington, D.C., is one of the largest integrated sports and entertainment companies in the country with one of the most diverse partnership groups in all of sports. MSE owns and operates six professional sports teams: 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals, NBA’s Washington Wizards, WNBA’s 2019 Championship Washington Mystics, NBA G League’s Capital City Go-Go, and the 2021 & 2020 NBA 2K League Champion Wizards District Gaming and Caps Gaming, an esports sub-brand of the Capitals.
In September 2022, MSE acquired full ownership of NBC Sports Washington (NBCSW) from NBCUniversal and now holds the exclusive local television media rights to Capitals’ and Wizards’ games. MSE also owns Monumental Sports Network (MSN), a first-of-its-kind regional sports network for digital, mobile and over-the-top platforms that launched in 2016. In addition to NBCSW and MSN, the media portion of MSE’s platform includes Caps Radio, Wizards Radio, Monumental Productions (in-house video content creation studio) and Monumental Outdoors (Out-Of-Home broadcast boards) .
MSE is also a co-owner of aXiomatic, which has a controlling interest in global esports franchise Team Liquid, and owns and operates Capital One Arena, a 20,000+ capacity live events venue in Washington, D.C. Capital One Arena is the marquee venue among the venues owned and/or managed under the MSE umbrella. MSE also manages MedStar Capitals Iceplex, the state-of-the-art training facility for the Capitals, and EagleBank Arena on George Mason University’s campus.
In conjunction with the District of Columbia and Events DC, MSE helped develop the Entertainment & Sports Arena (ESA), a sports and entertainment facility in Southeast D.C. on the St. Elizabeths East campus. At ESA, MSE operates the MedStar Health Performance Center, the training facility for the Wizards, Go-Go and Mystics. ESA’s 4,200-seat arena also serves as the home of the Mystics and Go-Go.
In July 2020, MSE’s Capital One Arena opened the first in-arena sportsbook, Caesars Sportsbook by William Hill, through MSE’s partnership with Caesars Entertainment (formerly William Hill).
And in January 2022, MSE announced it would be opening District E, powered by Ticketmaster, which is expected to open in the first quarter of 2023. This flagship venue for esports and entertainment will be the largest on the East Coast: a premier, nearly 14,000-square-foot live-event theater offering a 365-day-a-year, series of immersive experiences in esports, music, event programming, and community events – along with pre- and post-event activations for fans attending Capitals and Wizards games or events. This space will entertain hundreds for independent events, offer an extraordinary culinary experience, will create a best-in-class competition and training venue for the MSE esports franchises which it owns, operates, and invests in: Wizards District Gaming, Caps Gaming and Team Liquid.
MSE was advised by McDermott Will & Emery in connection with the investment transaction.
About Monumental Sports & Entertainment
Monumental Sports & Entertainment is one of America’s leading sports and entertainment families. Our people, players, teams, and events bring excitement and joy to millions. We invest and innovate to consistently raise the game so we can deliver extraordinary experiences that will inspire and unite our community, our fans, and our people. To learn more, please visit monumentalsports.com.
Headline photo: Ian Oland/RMNB
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