Seahawks sale: Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook reportedly not interested
SEATTLE – The first report stating names who might be interested in buying the Seahawks surfaced Thursday and was refuted a few hours later.
Hours after a report from Front Office Sports surfaced stating that Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and Apple CEO Tim Cook were thought to be interested in making a bid for the team, a report from Bloomberg News offered denials.
“Glad we could intercept the rumors on this one: Mark is not making any investment or bid for the Seattle Seahawks,” a Meta spokesperson told Bloomberg.
Bloomberg also reported that “Separately, a person familiar with Cook also denied he was making a bid for the team.” Cook has announced he will step down from Apple in September.
The author of the Front Office Sports story, Ben Horney, took to X to essentially stand by his story stating: “This is very interesting. 5 sources told me they heard the rumor about Zuckerberg. 4 told me they heard about Cook. What ultimately happens remains to be seen, but there’s some media posturing going on here.”
If nothing else, the reports illustrate the secrecy that has hung over the process, which is common when it comes to sales of major sports franchises.
The initial Front Office Sports story Thursday morning was the first time since the Seahawks were officially placed on sale on Feb. 18 that there had been any report of possible owners.
Front Office Sports reported: “Five sources familiar with the matter tell Front Office Sports they’ve heard Zuckerberg is considering a bid, while four say Cook is separately weighing an offer. The identities of the other two potential bidders were not clear, nor was it known whether any formal offers had been made.”
The FOS report hedged on the report, noting that there was no confirmation of the interest of any of the buyers stating: “Allen & Co., the bank running the sale process for the Seahawks, as well as the seller, the Paul G. Allen estate, declined to comment. Representatives for Meta and Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and direct representatives for Zuckerberg and Cook could not immediately be reached.”
So for now, what appears to be likely there is interest being shown behind the scenes, but that for now there are no confirmed reports of any names.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell offered the only public comment on the sale at the NFL league meetings on March 31, stating: “There is no news to report. Since we last met (his news conference prior to the Super Bowl) they are officially for sale. They hired a bank and they are going to work with them and there is a great deal of interest in that. That’s about all I know at this stage.”
Paul Allen bought the Seahawks for $194 million in 1997. His sister Jody Allen became team chair upon his death in Oct., 2018. Allen’s directives upon his death mandate the eventual sale of all of his assets. Another team owned by Paul Allen, the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA, were officially sold in March for $4 billion.