Alibaba Billionaire, Supermodel Headline New Liberty Investors

The New York Liberty keep winning. The defending WNBA champions have brought on a number of notable investors, from Alibaba founder and billionaire Jack Ma to supermodel Karlie Kloss.

The investment values the franchise at $450 million and represents a record valuation for a professional women’s sports franchise, Front Office Sports confirmed last week. The investors are putting money into just the Liberty, not the Brooklyn Nets or BSE Global, the holding company that owns the Liberty, Nets, and Barclays Center, a source familiar with the matter tells FOS.

In addition to Ma and Kloss, the group includes Karen Finerman, CEO of hedge fund Metropolitan Capital and a well-known panelist on CNBC’s Fast Money; Thasunda Brown Duckett, president and CEO of retirement- and investment-focused financial services organization TIAA; Gabrielle Rubenstein, cofounder of private-equity firm Manna Tree and daughter of PE giant and Orioles owner David Rubenstein; and Samantha Lasry, who primarily focuses on philanthropic work and is the daughter of billionaire investor Marc Lasry, who previously owned the Milwaukee Bucks.

The money will be put toward the development of a recently announced $80 million, 75,000-square-foot practice facility in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, which is expected to open in 2027. 

Jack Ma and Joe Tsai, majority owner of the Nets, have a history investing together, including through Blue Pool Capital. That’s Tsai’s family office, which also reportedly oversees some of Ma’s fortune (Ma has a nearly $40 billion net worth, according to Bloomberg). Blue Pool has invested in sneaker and apparel company Golden Goose, as well as media platform Just Women’s Sports and Premier League Lacrosse.

In Tuesday’s statement, Tsai, who is alternate governor for the Liberty, described Ma as a “trusted business partner.”

“He is a passionate supporter of women’s sports and I know he is excited to help us build an enduring franchise,” Tsai said.

Kloss has become quite the investor in recent years, with a portfolio that includes mmERCH, a fashion start-up that creates one-of-a-kind clothing items using generative artificial intelligence, as well Arcade, another generative-AI-powered company that lets users order personalized products like jewelry and home goods.

The Liberty investment must still be approved by the WNBA’s board of governors, a time frame for which was not disclosed.

Ma and Kloss aren’t the first high-profile investors to join the Liberty ownership group recently. Last year, Julia Koch, the widow of David Koch—who owned a majority stake in Koch Industries—bought a minority stake in BSE. Terms of that agreement were not disclosed, but Sportico reported the deal was for a 15% stake in BSE, and that it valued BSE at $6 billion.

All the investment news comes as the Liberty’s majority owners, Joe and Clara Wu Tsai, strive to keep increasing the team’s value, with an ultimate goal of hitting a $1 billion valuation by the mid-2030s, according to a recent Bloomberg report.

The Liberty, which Tuesday night play expansion franchise the Golden State Valkyries, are off to a 3–0 start this season.

Representatives for the individual investors did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Liberty declined to comment further than what was included in the press release.