Appaloosa Founder Tepper Buys the Carolina Panthers

The Carolina Panthers have a new owner, and he’s a hedge fund billionaire.

David Tepper, founder of the hedge fund Appaloosa Management, purchased the team—all in cash—for $2.2 billion in a deal The Charlotte Observer reports is the largest in NFL history, nearly doubling the 2014 sale of the Buffalo Bills.

The agreement must still be approved by NFL owners, who will meet next week in Atlanta and will likely authorize the transaction. The deal will end a near-six-month search for a Panthers buyer, as the sports organization took over a workplace misconduct investigation against founding owner Jerry Richardson. Following the investigation, which is being led by former SEC Chair Mary Jo White, Richardson decided to sell the team.

Although new owners tend to make changes to the team’s administration, the NFL reports that Tepper has not announced any. The Panthers will remain in Charlotte, as will General Manager Marty Hurney and Head Coach Ron Rivera.

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Tepper has a net worth of $11 billion and is also a minority owner in the Pittsburgh Steelers. He rose to fame after the 2008 financial crisis by “betting the government wouldn’t let the big banks fail,” according to a 2010 article from New York Magazine.

Time reports Appaloosa’s net assets at around $17 billion.

Tags: Carolina Panthers, David Tepper, Hedge Funds, Jerry Richardson, NFL

A highly controversial news leak of planned pension cuts prompted a top Greek judge to retire early in protest.

The drama comes against the backdrop of Greece’s response to its long-running economic problems, which led to a string of multi-billion euro bailouts. The Council of State, one of the nation’s highest courts, has the ultimate approval on the pension cuts.

Judge Nikos Sakellariou, who sits on the Council of State, announced he was leaving his post after the “recent violation of confidentiality” about the plan. In remarks to reporters, the judge, who is a skeptic of harsh pension cuts, objected to the “disruption [the leaks] caused to the entire Greek society.”

He added that the “unthinkable and unacceptable violation of judicial secrecy” had largely diminished the credibility and prestige of the council, and that it no longer allowed him to continue his job functions with “proper calm and sobriety.”

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His departure, however, was only a few weeks ahead of his planned exit of his 42-year career, reports Reuters.

The recently leaked cuts were planned for 2019, and could shrink retirement benefits by another 18% on top of previous reductions. Elderly pensioners have been protesting the austerity measures in Athens regularly. Some are now hoping for the council to oppose the proposed cuts.

The courts have approved previous slicing of retirement payouts, according to Greek newspapers. For instance, they upheld lowering the Greek version of Social Security. The measures raised social security contributions while also cutting benefits.

Greece has been slashing the benefits of its aging workforce since 2010 to offset the first of its three bailouts from the European Union: In 2010 the bailout was for €110 billion euros, or $129.8 billion; in 2012, €130 billion; and 2015, €86 billion. The cuts have knocked roughly half of Greece’s retired population below the poverty line to nearly €600 per month, Reuters said.

On top of that, almost one-quarter of Greece’s workforce is unemployed, causing the pension money to become the only source of income for some families.

Once the worst-rated pension system in the world, Greece has recently improved, although slowly. It currently ranks as the eighth–weakest. The pension debt is 9% of GDP, The Guardian wrote.

Should the court vote in favor of the latest reduction, Sakellariou predicted the move would be “the complete deprivation of all pensioners.”

Tags: Council of State, Greece, Judge Nikos Sakellariou, Pension, Pension Reform