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Chamath Palihapitiya announced that he sold the last chunk of his minority stake in the Golden State Warriors, which the billionaire venture capitalist had owned since 2011.
“I’m grateful for having been part of one of the greatest teams in history,” Palihapitiya wrote on Twitter Tuesday. “Winning culture is contagious, and this team has reinforced many of my existing beliefs, but also challenged me to change my mind on some others.”
Palihapitiya initially purchased 10% of the Warriors before the team went on a run of four NBA titles, the latest coming last month. Palihapitiya said he unloaded most of his stake in the team back in December.
That sale coincided with Arctos Sports Partners increasing its slice of the Warriors.
His remaining 2% of the team — currently valued at $5.6 billion by Forbes — was potentially worth at least double Palihapitiya’s original 10% investment when the team was worth about $450 million.
“The returns, as I learned in the end, were not just economic but intellectual and emotional as well — a rare trifecta and a really lucky outcome,” Palihapitiya wrote in another tweet.
Palihapitiya, who was an executive at Facebook in the early years of the social media company, sparked controversy in January when he said on his “All In” podcast that “nobody cares” about the Uyghur population in China.
The Warriors issued the following statement when Palihapitiya’s comments came to light: “As a limited investor who has no day-to-day operating functions with the Warriors, Mr. Palihapitiya does not speak on behalf of our franchise, and his views certainly don’t reflect those of our organization.”
Palihapitiya attempted to clarify his views of the human rights violations perpetrated against the Uyghurs.
“As a refugee, my family fled a country with its own set of human rights issues, so this is something that is very much a part of my lived experience,” Palihapitiya said. “To be clear, my belief is that human rights matter, whether in China, the United States, or elsewhere. Full stop.”
