Chicago Sun Times
March 17, 2000
BY JESSICA MADORE FITCH BUSINESS REPORTER
New details are in on his Airness joining his Flipness.
Michael Jordan, 37, has paid $1 million for 1 million shares of divine interVentures inc., the Lisle-based Internet operating company, according to a statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday.
That's a steep discount on the price individual investors are expected to pay once the stock is publicly traded. Divine's IPO is expected to debut on the Nasdaq stock market the week of March 27, probably March 30. Divine plans to offer 57.5 million shares at $6 to $8 each, raising $460 million.
Divine's chief, Andrew J. "Flip" Filipowski, handed Jordan an option to buy the stock as part of a three-year consulting agreement announced earlier this week. Jordan, a board member, will co-chair the "do right" committee and perform promotional activities.
Divine lent Jordan $1.3 million to pay for the stock and taxes.
There are other juicy details in divine's newest SEC statement. The number of shares privately held has increased from 493.7 million to 611 million.
Another item: Divine lists another new director in the statement--Goldman Sachs & Co. veteran Joseph D. Gutman, 43. Gutman manages the Chicago Institutional Equities Department of Goldman Sachs and is co-head of the investment bank's Chicago office.
Finally, divine provides more details about how it'll use the money raised through the offering. For example, divine plans to pay $62.5 million in acquisition debt, up to $111 million for partner companies, $5 million to develop the 300,000-square-foot facility in Chicago and $15 million to pay Microsoft under their alliance agreement.