Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will not submit a bid on the Commanders, sources told ESPN’s John Keim.
While Bezos had interest in buying the franchise, Dan and Tanya Snyder blocked the Amazon founder from bidding in March, a source told Keim. Sources close to the Snyders denied that premise, Keim said, but Bezos’s pursuit of the team struggled to gain any momentum.
Of note, Bezos also owns The Washington Post, which has released a host of investigative stories into the franchise over the past few years, several of which involved serious allegations against Dan Snyder. The reporting conducted into the franchise by the newspaper owned by Bezos would obviously provide the Snyder’s with the motivation to block his bid.
While Bezos won’t be submitting a bid, there are a handful of known groups who have formally placed an offer to purchase the Commanders.
One group, led by 76ers and Devils owner Josh Harris, submitted an offer that is reported to be around $6 billion. The group led by Harris includes billionaire Mitchell Rales and NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson.
Canadian billionaire Steve Apostolopoulos and Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta placed two separate bids as well. Apostolopoulos’s bid is reportedly fully-funded and worth $6 billion, according to ESPN, while Fertitta told CNBC he bid $5.6 billion, which was in line with the value that Forbes placed on the franchise.
