Alexis Ohanian: Angel City Ownership Setup Was a ‘Terrible Idea’

Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian acknowledges he made a mistake in ceding control of NWSL club Angel City to three of his cofounders—actress Natalie Portman, venture capitalist Kara Nortman, and entrepreneur Julie Uhrman—who he says put up “no money.”

Last year’s record-breaking takeover of Angel City by Bob Iger and Willow Bay at a $250 million valuation was done out of necessity after the club’s original ownership structure proved unsustainable, Ohanian told Front Office Sports during a recent episode of Portfolio Players. 

When he and the trio of women helped launch Angel City in 2020—the team began play in 2022—Ohanian said he mistakenly used a Silicon Valley model.

“I structured it like a start-up,” Ohanian said.

By that, he means he invested about $5 million into the team without the expectation of board control, and he gave around 75% of the team’s equity away “for free” to his cofounders: actress Natalie Portman, venture capitalist Kara Nortman, and entrepreneur Julie Uhrman.

“That works great in tech,” he said. “In sports, it’s a terrible idea.”

Portman and Uhrman are still on the team’s board of directors (Uhrman is now CEO), while Nortman is still an investor in the team but not on the board. 

Angel City did not immediately respond to questions about Ohanian’s comments.

The league viewed Ohanian as being responsible for the team, he says, but the three women were the public faces of the franchise. This eventually led to internal strife spilling out publicly and structural problems that required a change.

“I was [the] founding control owner in the eyes of the league, so it’s my ass on the line,” he told FOS.

Ohanian reportedly became frustrated with how club leadership handled its finances. Nortman and Uhrman were accused by an unnamed law firm representing Angel City’s board members of violating a non-disclosure agreement by “communicating directly with bidders” about proposed deal terms, The Wall Street Journal reported last year. Additionally, team officials, and Ohanian, were unhappy with Uhrman’s “financial and personnel management,” according to the WSJ.

Ohanian told FOS the league should “never” have allowed such a setup, but at the time, it was “in a tricky place” and “took any money they could get from me.”

The NWSL did not immediately respond to questions, including whether the league would permit a similar ownership structure again.

Ultimately, the “only real solution” was to align board control of the team with club ownership, according to Ohanian. Last spring, the team hired investment bank Moelis & Company to find new owners, and that process resulted in the deal with Iger and Bay.

“I learned a lot from that,” Ohanian told FOS. 

The sale of majority ownership in the club diluted Ohanian’s shares, but he maintains a stake and is still on the board. 

He said that “at the end of the day, the three ladies played a role in getting it all started and, you know, were handsomely rewarded for putting up no money.”

“But I’m not upset about that,” he told FOS. “I think the best outcome here is, you got Bob and Willow, they have board control, and it’s good. It’s a rebuild.” 

He says he will not make the same mistake again. Ohanian’s sports portfolio also includes a stake in Chelsea Women’s FC, all-women track and field meet series Athlos, and the Los Angeles Golf Club, a team in TGL, the indoor golf league cofounded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

“For sure the next team that I started, LA Golf Club: board control, vast majority of ownership, commensurate with the dollars put in,” he said.

—Annie Costabile contributed reporting.