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 earlier this month, is expected to close by the end of the year with a valuation of $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 group also now includes the Cherng Family Trust, according to the estate’s announcement. Andrew Cherng 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.
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.
Below is the formal announcement:
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.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
--Bill Oram is the sports columnist at The Oregonian/OregonLive.
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