We all know Berkshire Partners is looking to sell CrossFit, LLC. That was made official in early March after rumors started swirling that there was a potential buyer out there. Now, two months after the sale was “official”, Matt Souza has indicated there might be a new private equity player in the mix.
TPG, previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is a private equity firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. TPG has $251 billion (yes, billion with a B) under management. Compare that to Berkshire Partners, which has invested just over $16 billion since its inception in 1984.
TPG has several investment arms from real estate to health care, life sciences and more. Some of its current investments include Airbnb and McAfee. They previously invested in Fender, Chobani, Burger King and Petco.
But what’s interesting, and what Souza finds during his research, is that just this month TPG launched a “dedicated sports investing business.” TPG Sports, as its called, is partnering with PGA Tour pro Rory McIlroy and his business partner, Sean O’Flaherty.
So Souza starts to speculate that what if TPG Sports is interested in just the CrossFit Games side of CrossFit and Berkshire Partners decides to sell CrossFit off in parts. Sell the affiliate side to one buyer and the CrossFit Games/sport side to someone like TPG.
Souza believes that if Berkshire did this it could result in a higher aggregate price than if it was sold as a package.
Now, the question is, “would breaking up the affiliate side from the Games component be good or bad?” That’s the ultimate question.
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