The Vice Chairman of the consumer-electronics company Xiaomi, Lin Bin, seeks to buy 1 percent of the holding company that owns the NFL\u2019s Miami Dolphins, according to Sportico. The same company owns the Dolphins\u2019 home field (Hard Rock Stadium), the Miami Grand Prix (Formula 1) and the Miami Open (ATP Masters 1000, WTA 1000).<\/p>\n
The purchase price is undisclosed, but the company\u2019s agreed valuation is $12.5 billion, 1 percent of which is $125 million. Until now the highest valuation for a minority acquisition in the NFL was about $10 billion \u2013 a record set last October<\/a>, when the Koch family purchased 10 percent of the New York Giants. Note, however, that Lin\u2019s 1 percent is of the holding company, not the team alone. (According to CNBC, which cites \u201ctwo people who are close to the deal but not authorized to speak publicly,\u201d the Giants valuation was $10.3 billion.)<\/p>\n The NFL\u2019s finance committee has approved the deal, but the team owners have yet to vote on the matter. A vote should take place at the next annual meeting, late this month.<\/p>\n More than Vice Chairman, Lin Bin is the co-founder of Xiaomi \u2013 along with Lei Jun, who is the company\u2019s Chairman and CEO and has served as a deputy to China\u2019s National People\u2019s Congress since 2013.<\/p>\n Xiaomi (Beijing) \u2013 listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since 2018, with a market cap<\/a> of 873.78 billion Hong Kong dollars (\u20ac96.234bn) as of this writing \u2013 deals in smartphones, Internet of Things (connected devices and appliances), internet services (ads, gaming, fintech, payments) and, most recently, electric cars. Counterpoint Research ranks<\/a> it third in market share (13%) among smartphone producers for FY 2025, behind Apple (20%) and Samsung (19%) and ahead of Vivo and Oppo (both 8%).<\/p>\n Investment-fund connection?<\/p>\n