How the Phoenix Suns Owner Makes Money
Mat Ishbia is the CEO of mortgage lender United Wholesale Mortgage and the owner of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns. Ishbia's net worth is now in the billions.
You may know Mat Ishbia as the CEO of mortgage lender United Wholesale Mortgage or as the owner of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury. Or, perhaps you only became acquainted with Mat Ishbia after hearing about the courtside altercation he got into with Nuggets star player Nikola Jokic.
Either way, Ishbia is one name worth recognizing, given his record of success and staggering net worth.
Interested in knowing more about the man who dished out $4 billion on two professional basketball teams? Read on to find out who Ishbia is and how he made his money.
Mat Ishbia
CEO and Chairman of United Wholesale Mortgage
Net worth: $8.97 billion
Ishbia grew the wholesale mortgage company his father founded into the largest of its kind in the country. He also played basketball in college for Michigan State University's team that won the 2000 NCAA championship. Ishbia and his brother purchased a majority stake in the Phoenix Suns and the Phoenix Mercury in 2023.
Birthdate: Jan. 6, 1980
Birthplace: Raised in a Jewish family in Birmingham, Michigan
Education: Michigan State University
Spouse: Emily Clarke
Kids: 0
How did Mat Ishbia make his money?
Mat Ishbia is the president, chairman, and CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage, the largest wholesale mortgage lender in the U.S. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Ishbia has a net worth of $8.97 billion, up nearly $4 billion from the $5.26 billion that it was in December 2022.
Ishbia's net worth puts him on the same playing field as Russian oligarch Viktor Rashnikov and real estate developer Stephen Ross.
Ishbia’s father, Jeff, founded the Michigan-based mortgage company in 1986, and Mat joined the firm in 2003 after he graduated from Michigan State University. Jeff Ishbia credits Mat with turning the local mortgage company he founded into a successful nationwide wholesale brokerage.
In 2013, Ishbia was named CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage after his father stepped down. Ishbia became a billionaire when he took the company public in January 2021, reports Forward.com.
Did Mat Ishbia play professional sports?
Owning a professional basketball team isn’t too much out of the realm for Ishbia. In college at Michigan State University, he was on the men’s basketball team that won the NCAA championship in 2000.
“Basketball is at the core of my life, from my high school days as a player to the honor of playing for Coach (Tom) Izzo and winning a national title at Michigan State University,” Ishbia said in a statement regarding his interest in purchasing the Phoenix Suns and Mercury.
Ishbia took what he learned on the court and used it to run his business. He chronicles his strategy in his 2019 autobiography, Running the Corporate Offense: Lessons in Effective Leadership from the Bench to the Board Room.
“I took basketball and leadership and Izzo’s mentality, and a lot of stuff I learned from my father, and I applied it to mortgages and a mortgage business, and I thought it was a great thing to share with people,” Ishbia told Detroit Business in 2020.
I had a great call with fellow Spartan Mat Ishbia congratulating him on his purchase of the Phoenix Suns. He’s going to do great things not only for the Suns organization, but for the entire league. All of the other 29 NBA teams better watch out because Mat’s a winner!
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) December 20, 2022After finalizing the purchase of the NBA's Phoenix Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury teams, Ishbia now brings his success in business to the basketball court.
“I’ve spent the last two decades building my mortgage business, United Wholesale Mortgage, into the number one mortgage lender in America, and I’m confident that we can bring that same level of success to these great organizations on and off the floor,” Ishbia said in his statement.
How much did Mat Ishbia pay for the Phoenix Suns?
In February 2023, Ishbia and his brother Justin purchased the Phoenix Suns and the Phoenix Mercury for $4 billion, marking the sale as the largest NBA purchase in history, CNBC reports. Ishbia took over for Robert Sarver, who was suspended and fined by the NBA earlier in 2022 for making racist and misogynistic comments over the almost 20 years he has controlled the franchise.
Sarver paid $401 million for the Suns in 2004.
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