“We put Seattle’s best foot forward.” -Chris Hansen
Why is money not important in business objectives? Objectives of some enterprises are not always profit-driven. Bidding on the Sacramento Kings to become the new Seattle Supersonics is a good case to look back on. Chris Hansen is a billionaire hedge fund manager who knows about strategy, finance, and also intangible objectives. Overall, the resources put towards trying to buy the Kings was not solely for profitability, but a civic-minded objective. The goal is to get the NBA back to Seattle, regardless of cost, time, or effort.
Here’s a rundown of what this project has taken:
– 2 1/2 years of planning
– $70M in real estate purchased
– $625M final bidding offer (raised from bid of $550M)
– $200M arena (primarily private backing)
With all of this the Seattle offer was lost, and many would say that the efforts made in the bidding process were a loss as well. Chris Hansen still says he will continue. The NBA chose against the lucrative offer and kept the Kings in Sacramento for $535M and Hansen losing $30M for a myriad of political and business reasons.
“I think first and foremost we have a great city.”
More aptly the project of Hansen trying to get Seattle into the NBA is a social enterprise. We often attribute non-profits into this category. Yet, the social enterprise is different in that they provide a qualitative and quantitative value as a return. Profit can be made, but the objective is not that alone. Unlike many business owners Chris Hansen is pursuing an intangible objective of making his hometown of Seattle greater. (as a multi-millionaire he can afford to pursue this massive pet project) Although idealistic, organizations do exist to promote just that: ideals.
::by dcabanilla
