CEO Jed York acknowledged this week that his family could sell some of its 97 percent ownership stake in the 49ers.
In February, Bloomberg reported the Yorks could sell a stake in the franchise to private equity or other potential buyers.
Ten percent or more of the 49ers could be sold, a league source told NBC Sports Bay Area, and it could be presented to NFL ownership for approval as early as the league’s spring meeting in May.
“We get approached probably on a weekly basis (by) somebody that’s interested,” York said this week at the NFL Annual Meeting in Palm Beach, Florida.
NFL owners voted in August to approve a measure that allows private equity funds to buy limited stakes in franchises. In September, the 49ers ranked sixth in the NFL with a valuation of $7.4 billion, according to a CNBC calculation that accounts for each team’s revenue, profit and debt.
“It’s one of those things where if there’s an opportunity that makes sense, we would always explore that,” York said. “But I’m not sure what we’re going to end up doing. And if we do, we’d try to find the right people that would help bolster everything that we’re doing in and around the team, on the field, off the field, and just make sure we had good partners that were with us.”
York, 44, purchased enough equity from his parents, Denise DeBartolo York and John York, to become the principal owner of the franchise last March. He said the move was made in order to ensure the franchise remains in the family “for generations to come.”
