Denver Nuggets win first NBA title, but who owns them?

The Denver Nuggets are NBA champions for the first time in franchise history after defeating the Miami Heat 94-89 on Monday in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

Who is the Denver Nuggets’ owner, Stan Kroenke?

Stan Kroenke is an American billionaire who owns a number of professional sports clubs, including the Denver Nuggets, with a reported net worth of $12.9 billion, per Forbes. The fact that Kroenke is married to Ann Walton, the heiress to the international retail behemoth Walmart, in addition to serving as the chairman of the aforementioned Kroenke Sports & Entertainment organization, carries with it a tremendous lot of prestige.

The Kroenke Group, a company that develops real estate, was established by Kroenke in 1983. After marrying into the richest family in the world, he moved shortly after. This effectively accelerated his rise to extreme fortune. To be clear, a lot of the Kroenke Group’s retail complexes had Walmarts, a move that only grew the family’s empire, which is now valued at a total of $224.5 billion. In 1991, he launched his second business endeavor, THF Realty, which is yet another real estate development company. The corporation continues to have connections with Walmart despite owning a number of businesses spread throughout half of the US. It is now worth over $2 billion.

After establishing Kroenke Sports & Entertainment in 1999, the NBA club and the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche were all acquired by Kroenke in 2000 for a total of $450 million. Ball Arena, formerly known as Pepsi Center, was also purchased by Kroenke. He acquired a 30% share in the Los Angeles Rams of the NFL only five years earlier, which incidentally enabled for their immediate move to St. Louis and their subsequent return to Los Angeles in 2017. He added at the time, «I love the NBA; that’s what eventually started me down this route. The Nuggets, who are now in their first NBA Finals trip and are headed by Nikola Jokic, one of the finest players in the league, are now reportedly valued $1.93 billion.