Paul Allen’s estate announced Friday that it has reached a formal agreement to sell the Portland Trail Blazers to a group led by Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon.
The deal, which The Oregonian/OregonLive first reported last month, is expected to close by the end of the upcoming NBA season with the franchise valued at $4.25 billion, according to a source close to the transaction.
As previously reported, Dundon’s group includes Blue Owl Capital co-president Marc Zahr, as well as Sheel Tyle, the CEO of Collective Global, who lives in the Portland area.
The proposed ownership group also now includes the Cherng Family Trust, according to the estate’s announcement. Andrew Cherng, 77, co-founded Panda Express with his wife Peggy Tsiang Cherng. The family has a net worth of $7.5 billion, according to Forbes, which would make them the wealthiest investors in Dundon’s group.
Peggy Cherng was born in what is now Myanmar but attended Oregon State University, graduating in 1971 with a degree in applied mathematics.
It is unclear how much of the team any stakeholder will actually own. To be the controlling owner Dundon must own at least 15% of the team, which would cost roughly $640 million with a $4.25 billion price tag for the franchise.
The sale will need to be approved by the NBA’s board of governors before it becomes official.
Dundon’s group entered an exclusive negotiating window with the Allen estate last month, beating out a group led by RAJ Sports and the Bhathal family, which owns the NWSL’s Portland Thorns and the Portland Fire, which will debut in the WNBA next season.
With Dundon having come out ahead in that battle, the two ownership groups that went head-to-head for the Trail Blazers will now need to coexist as tenants at the city-owned Moda Center.
Dundon has not spoken publicly about his bid to buy the team, but one of his first orders of business will need to be mapping out a future for the 30-year-old arena and the dormant Rose Quarter district surrounding it.
In July, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the city “likely needs a new arena,” increasing the urgency for a tangible plan for either a major renovation or a new build.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reported earlier this month that existing Trail Blazers leadership has commissioned renderings of what a revitalized Rose Quarter could look like if the team’s new owner “dreamed big.”
An arena project is seen as the linchpin to ensuring the Blazers’ future in Portland. The Allen estate’s statement said that the new ownership group “confirmed their intention to keep the team in Portland.”
In response, Rip City Forever, a coalition headed by former Blazers’ president Marshall Glickman and ex-Blazer Chris Dudley, along with other business executives, sent a statement calling on Dundon and his investors to “think big and act big — for the future of our city and state.”
“The work to ensure Portland remains Rip City Forever has just begun,” the group said. “A public-private partnership to create a world-class home for the Blazers is at the heart of this effort.”
Below is the full statement from Allen’s estate:
Portland, Ore. – Sept. 12, 2025 – The Estate of Paul G. Allen today announced it has entered a formal sale agreement with Tom Dundon for the Portland Trail Blazers NBA franchise. Dundon (owner and CEO of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes) will be joined by Marc Zahr (co-president of Blue Owl Capital), Sheel Tyle (the Portland-based founder and CEO of Collective Global), and the Cherng Family Trust (the family office of the co-founders of Panda Express and Panda Restaurant Group), as owners – who confirmed their intention to keep the team in Portland. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction is subject to approval by the NBA Board of Governors.
— Bill Oram is the sports columnist at The Oregonian/OregonLive.
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