NBA: Steve Ballmer now official owner of Los Angeles Clippers

Steve Ballmer, former president of the American software company Microsoft, is now the official owner of the Los Angeles Clippers (California, USA) NBA (National Basketball Association, North America) franchise, the league announced on 12/08/2014. The amount of the transaction between Steve Ballmer and the Sterling family, former owners, is estimated at $2bn (€1.49bn).

Shelly Sterling had negotiated the sale of the Californian franchise after the NBA banned her husband for life on 29/04/2014. Donald Sterling had made racist comments about Magic Johnson, a black former player for the Los Angeles Lakers; these were leaked online by the society news website TMZ on 25/04/2014.

Donald Sterling and the investment fund of the Sterling family are also the subject of a counterclaim conducted by the NBA for "incalculable damage" done to the league by the statements of the former owner of the Clippers.

The lawsuit is in response to lawsuit filed by Donald Sterling against the NBA and its commissioner Adam Silver in June 2014. Donald Sterling demanded $1bn (€748.9m) in damages after the NBA…