Michael Jordan Second Black Majority Owner of NBA Team

The NBA has approved Michael Jordan as the next principal owner of the Charlotte Bobcats making him the first former player and second black to own a controlling interest in an NBA franchise.

Outbound owner Robert Johnson is said to have personally absorbed in the neighborhood of $80 million in operating losses from his seven-year Bobcat ownership (he paid $300 million for the franchise in 2003).

Johnson, who founded BET and sold it to Viacom for three billion dollars in 2001, announced that he had been looking for someone to buy earlier this year.

According to Forbes.com, "there is plenty of opportunity for Michael Jordan to earn a big return on the $175 million he paid to buy the Charlotte Bobcats this month. But MJ must act quickly to turn around the money losing NBA team because of the huge amount of brand equity previous owner Robert Johnson destroyed during his seven years of control."