Expert: Alessandro - 10/17/2003

Question
Hi,  The Boston Celtics sold stock in the Celtics awhile back, and you were able to buy it on the New York stock Exchange.  I don't see it listed anymore.  What happened, and where is it now?  I would like to purchase some!   Thanks!

Answer
Sorry, but you missed your chance ... Once Paul Gaston sold Celtics ownership to local investment group "Boston Basketball Partnership" (which includes local venture capitalist Wycliffe Groubeck  among its members), all individual owners of stock had to resell their shares back to the BBP, as per their agreement with the NBA once ownership of the team became finalized (as the Boston Herald described it at the time: "the C's sale to a group of deep-pocketed, longtime fans [was] atypical for other reasons as well. For starters, a publicly traded partnership owned the team. And many investors who bought partnership units as much to mount on their office walls as to make money were pleasantly surprised to find themselves collecting a cash premium from the sale. Before the deal was made public, Celtics units closed at $10.60 each. Grousbeck and his partners later said the 58,000 unit holders would get $27 in cash for each unit.")

You see, Gaston had the Celtics "name brand" go public back in the 80s, so that fans could feel as if they owned a part of the team, however small that part may actually be (of course, most people felt at the time that this was just an excuse for Paul to make more money off of the team's name recognition, but that's neither here nor there) ... If you're interested in seeing the actual certificate that was sent to you if you had bought stock in the team, you can find a picture at this web site :

http://www.scripophily.net/boscellimpar.html

Sorry again, if I've disappointed you ...

Alessandro
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