Who are Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall? Meet the new Charlotte Hornets owners

After a 13-year run with the franchise, Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan is finalizing a deal to sell his majority stake in the team.

The deal includes Hornets minority owner Gabe Plotkin and Atlanta Hawks minority owner Rick Schnall, the team announced Friday. Jordan will hold a minority stake in the Hornets when the sale is complete.

Plotkin was the founder and former head of Melvin Capital Management, a New York City-based hedge fund firm, according to Forbes.

While at the helm, Plotkin predicted that the price of GameStop shares would fall as storefronts around the country closed, the New York Times reported.

In 2022, Plotkin announced that the fund would shut down after it lost billions of dollars when amateur investors coordinated to buy shares of GameStop stock, driving up the price, the Times reported.

Schnall is a partner at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, a New York City-based private equity firm, where he leads the financial services and technology team, Sports Illustrated reported. He is a Harvard graduate and lives in New York City.

Rapper J. Cole — along with country music singer-songwriter Eric Church, who grew up in Granite Falls and graduated from Appalachian State — will be among a group of minority owners.

Cole, who attended Terry Sanford High School in Fayetteville, is one of the most decorated hip-hop artists of his generation, winning a Grammy Award, Billboard Music Award, and several BET Hip Hop Awards.

The team’s sale is subject to the approval of the NBA Board of Governors. Along with the Hornets, HSE ownership includes the Greensboro Swarm (NBA G League) and Hornets Venom GT (NBA 2K League), as well as managing and operating Spectrum Center, each of which is included as part of the sale.