Pittsburgh Penguins legend Mario Lemieux reportedly no longer has a stake in the franchise he bought out of bankruptcy 27 years ago.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s King Jemison reported Monday Lemieux and Ron Burkle no longer hold a minority state in the team.
Lemieux and Burkle gave up their stake as part of the franchise’s sale to a private equity group led by the Hoffman family, which was approved by the NHL in June, according to Jemison.
The duo became majority owners of the Penguins in 1999, about a year after the franchise went into bankruptcy that led to questions about its future in the NHL. The deal made Lemieux the first person to own a major sports franchise he had played for.
Lemieux and Burkle sold majority ownership in the franchise to Fenway Sports Group in 2021 for around $900 million while retaining a minority stake. Lemieux said in a statement at the time he planned to “continue to be as active and engaged with the team as I always have been.”
He reportedly gave up that minority stake five years later as part of the deal that saw FSG sell the Penguins to the Hoffman family for around $1.75 billion.
Alternate governor Geoff Hoffman said June 25 in his family’s introductory press conference the new ownership group would be interested in having Lemieux remain involved with the franchise following its latest sale.
”I’m really hopeful that he will be a part of this in whatever way, shape or form makes sense for him, but we would love for him to be a part of it,” Hoffman said. “We know what he means to hockey, we know what he means to the Penguins, we know what he means to the city and what he means to the league, to the NHL. And I think everyone would embrace him with open arms.”
How involved Lemieux is with the Penguins going forward could hinge on whether he ends up taking on some variety of a front office role with the team going forward.