Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, an African-American businessman and hip-hop’s first billionaire, and Jeff Bezos, the world’s fourth-richest man, dined out in Los Angeles on Monday night amid rumors of a joint venture to buy the Washington Commanders.
The news comes just a few days after it was revealed that they both had a mutual interest in bidding for the Commanders, a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area, as they plan to take over the NFL team from current owners.
The Commanders announced last week that owners Daniel and Tanya Snyder are considering selling the team. The announcement has since sparked speculation about a potential buyer, with Amazon founder Bezos confirmed as having an interest.
With the owners seeking more than $7 billion to sell their stake in the NFL team, which they purchased for $800 million with two partners in 1999, it is unclear what the two billionaires’ plans were for the structure of the acquisition.
This is not the first time Bezos has expressed an interest in purchasing an NFL franchise. Earlier this year, the Amazon founder expressed an interest in acquiring the Denver Broncos, but did not appear to enter the bidding process, leading to the team being sold by Pat Bowlen Trust in June for $4.65 billion to a group led by Walmart heir Rob Walton.
According to Forbes, Bezos is the world’s fourth-richest billionaire, with a net worth of $113.5 billion, while Jay-Z is the world’s 2,085th richest man at the time of writing.
Despite losing $100 million year-to-date, Jay-Z’s fortune has risen by $300 million since February 2021, when Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) acquired a 50-percent stake in Armand de Brignac.
His fortune includes a stake in the entertainment company Roc Nation, investments in the Armand de Brignac champagne and D’Usse cognac brands, a fine art collection, and an equity position in Square, a U.S. mobile payments company founded by Twitter Founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey.
