COBB COUNTY, Ga. — If you’re interested in buying stock in the Atlanta Braves, here’s your chance.
The team’s owner Liberty Media and its stockholders voted on a reorganization move to split off the team and the Battery Atlanta as an independent publicly-traded company: Atlanta Braves Holding Incorporated.
Previously, you could only purchase shares under the Liberty Media holdings. Plans for the spinoff were announced last year with the vote finalized on Monday.
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Channel 2 Action News attended a news conference at Truist Park on Tuesday where Braves chairman Terry McGuirk, president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos and president and CEO Derek Schiller spoke about the move.
While fans can own the stock, McGuirk says there will be no changes on the operations side.
“The purpose here today is we absolutely want to tell you that it’s business as usual. There are no changes to how we operate,” McGuirk said. “I’m proud to say that our franchise is looked upon as one of the gold standard franchises in baseball and we will continue to act that way... and I see nothing but great things ahead.”
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The team’s stock will begin trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market as soon as Wednesday, under the symbols “BATRA” and “BATRK.” The Braves say they are now the first publicly traded Major League Baseball team in 25 years.
“It’s a unique novelty where if you’re a fan of this team, you can also become an owner of the team and own stock. That in a way is very exciting,” Schiller said.
What does this mean for the fans who are interested in stock? Channel 2′s Jorge Estevez spoke with Bankrate Analyst Ted Rossman to find out whether this is about fun or finance.
“I think from an individual perspective, it’s really about the fun and just saying that you have this collectible, you have this small share of ownership. I think from a business standpoint, there are reasons Liberty Media is doing this, like taxes and maybe partitioning that value of the team separately. From an individual standpoint, though, I think it’s really about the fun,” Rossman said.
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