Clippers' Steve Ballmer Tops List of Richest American Sports Owners; $83B Net Worth

Los Angeles Clippers governor Steve Ballmer stands as the richest American owner in sports based on the latest edition of the Forbes 400 list.

Ballmer, who served as Microsoft's CEO from 2000-14, has a net worth of $83 billion. That places him eighth overall on Forbes' list of the richest Americans.

Ballmer bought the Clippers in 2014 for $2 billion.

Fifty sports team owners sit on the Forbes 400 list for 2022. Fifteen of them are in the top 100.

The top five on the sports owner list are Rob Walton (Denver Broncos), David Tepper (Carolina Panthers), Robert Pera (Memphis Grizzlies) and Steve Cohen (New York Mets).

Walton and Cohen are recent editions to the sports owners list. Walton agreed to buy the Broncos for $4.65 billion in June. Cohen bought the Mets for $2.4 billion in Nov. 2020.

Other owners who have been in charge of their franchises for decades remain on the list, including Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys ($16 billion), Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots ($10.6 billion) and Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks ($4.6 billion).

As for the leader of the pack, Ballmer is considered one of the better owners in sports. A poll conducted by The Athletic in 2020 of 31 NBA personnel had him ranked No. 1 in the entire league. The Clippers, who were once a moribund franchise under ex-owner Donald Sterling have also excelled under Ballmer's watch. They haven't had a losing season since Ballmer bought the team, and they've made the playoffs in all but two campaigns.