PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A group led by Carolina Hurricanes owner Don Dundon has reached a tentative agreement with Paul Allen’s estate to buy the Trail Blazers and keep the team in Portland.
Dundon confirmed the agreement in a text exchange with The Associated Press on Wednesday. His group includes Portland-based Sheel Tyle, the co-founder of investment firm Collective Global, and Marc Zahr, co-president of Blue Owl Capital.
The NBA Board of Governors has to ratify any final purchase agreement. ESPN reported Wednesday that the deal was for $4 billion. Dundon did not reveal the terms of the sale to the AP.
CNBC earlier this year valued the Trail Blazers at $3.65 billion. In March, the Boston Celtics sold for $6.1 billion.
Dundon, 53, bought a stake in the Hurricanes in 2017 and became the majority owner in 2018. He is chairman and managing partner of the Dallas-based firm Dundon Capital Partners.
Allen’s estate announced in May that it had begun the process of selling the Trail Blazers. The billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, who died in 2018 at age 65 from complications of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, originally bought the Blazers in 1988 for $70 million.
Allen also owned the NFL's Seattle Seahawks and was a co-owner of Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders.
Since his death, Allen's sister, Jody Allen, has served as chair of both the Blazers and Seahawks and is a trustee of the Paul G. Allen Trust. Paul Allen stipulated in his will the eventual sale of his teams, with the proceeds given to philanthropic endeavors.
Representatives for the estate did not immediately respond to emails from The Associated Press seeking comment on the agreement.
The estate has not announced plans for the sale of the Seahawks or the 25% stake in the Sounders.
Jody Allen reportedly rebuffed an offer from Nike co-founder Phil Knight to buy the Trail Blazers for more than $2 billion in 2022. At that time, there were no ongoing discussions about the sale of the teams, she said in a rare statement.
The Trail Blazers joined the NBA as an expansion team in 1970 and won their lone NBA championship in 1977.
Last season, the Blazers finished 36-46 and missed out on the playoffs for the fourth straight year.
A spokesperson for the Carolina Hurricanes said Dundon was "excited about the opportunity” to buy the Trail Blazers, and added that the move will not affect the NHL team.
The Hurricanes, based in Raleigh, have made the playoffs in each of the last seven seasons.
AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this report.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
FILE - Tom Dundon, majority owner of the Carolina Hurricanes talks to the media about his $250 million investment in the Alliance of American Football league before the start of an NHL hockey game between the New York Rangers and the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019. (AP Photo/Chris Seward, File)
BEIJING (AP) — Canada, breaking with the U.S., has agreed to cut its 100% tariff on Chinese electric cars in return for lower tariffs on Canadian farm products, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday.
Carney made the announcement after two days of meetings with Chinese leaders. He said there would be an initial cap of 49,000 vehicles on Chinese EV exports to Canada.
China will reduce its tariff on canola seeds, a major Canadian export, to from about 84% to about 15%, he told reporters.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
BEIJING (AP) — Faced with new global challenges, the leaders of China and Canada pledged Friday to improve relations between their two nations after years of acrimony.
Xi Jinping told visiting Prime Minister Mark Carney that he is willing to continue working to improve ties, noting that talks have been underway on restoring and restarting cooperation since the two held an initial meeting in October on the sidelines of a regional economic conference in South Korea.
“It has been a historic and productive two days,” Carney said, delivering a statement to journalists outside a Beijing park Friday afternoon. “We have to understand the differences between Canada and other countries, and focus our efforts to work together where we’re aligned."
“It can be said that our meeting last year opened a new chapter in turning China–Canada relations toward improvement,” China's top leader said.
Carney, the first Canadian prime minister to visit China in eight years, said better relations would help improve a global governance system that he described as “under great strain.”
He called for a new relationship “adapted to new global realities” and cooperation in agriculture, energy and finance.
Those new realities reflect in large part the so-called America-first approach of U.S. President Donald Trump. The tariffs he has imposed have hit both the Canadian and Chinese economies. Carney, who has met with several leading Chinese companies in Beijing, said ahead of his trip that his government is focused on building an economy less reliant on the U.S. at what he called “a time of global trade disruption.”
A Canadian business owner in China called Carney's visit game-changing, saying it re-establishes dialogue, respect and a framework between the two nations.
“These three things we didn’t have,” said Jacob Cooke, the CEO of WPIC Marketing + Technologies, which helps exporters navigate the Chinese market. “The parties were not talking for years.”
No announcement was made on tariffs between China and Canada, which is a sticking point in the relationship.
Canada followed the U.S. in putting tariffs of 100% on EVs from China and 25% on steel and aluminum under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Carney’s predecessor.
China responded by imposing duties of 100% on Canadian canola oil and meal and 25% on pork and seafood. It added a 75.8% tariff on canola seeds last August. Collectively, the import taxes effectively closed the Chinese market to Canadian canola, an industry group has said. Overall, China's imports from Canada fell 10.4% last year to $41.7 billion, according to Chinese trade data.
China is hoping Trump’s pressure tactics on allies such as Canada will drive them to pursue a foreign policy that is less aligned with the United States. The U.S. president has suggested Canada could become America's 51st state.
Carney departs China on Saturday and visits Qatar on Sunday before attending the annual gathering of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland next week. He will meet business leaders and investors in Qatar to promote trade and investment, his office said.
Associated Press business writer Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong contributed to this report.
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, center, arrives to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, Pool)
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)
