Canadian investor Kevin O’Leary revealed on CNBC on Monday that he was one of three buyers to snap up the record-breaking Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan sports card at auction over the weekend.
The card, a signed collectible featuring both NBA legends, sold for nearly $13 million, surpassing the previous record for the most-expensive trading card sold at auction, a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle #311, which went for $12.6 million in August 2022, according to auction house Heritage, which sold both cards.
As of the completion of the Bryant-Jordan sale, the buyers remained anonymous. O’Leary told CNBC he bought the card along with two other investors, Matt Allen and Paul Warshaw, to form a syndicate and avoid competing.
“We bought it together, yes we did,” O’Leary said on “Squawk Box” on Monday, adding the three got together on a 3 a.m. Zoom call to buy the card. “I’m very proud to own it.”
The 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman Autographs, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
Courtesy: Heritage Auctions | HA.com
Sports collectibles have been gaining steam in recent years, with notable jerseys and even personal watches of athletes coming up on the block and fetching millions. The Bryant-Jordan card featured the NBA uniform logos and signatures of both players and came up for sale on the late Bryant’s birthday.
O’Leary said he doesn’t believe the card will come to the market again in his lifetime.
“It’s going to be a part of an index that I’m going to continue to grow along with my partners,” he said. “We look at it no different than our bitcoin holdings, our ethereum holdings, our gold holdings.”
He added that he doesn’t believe sports card trading is only driven by the growing 1% of wealth, like art trading might be, saying that it is getting “institutional in nature.”
“It’s no different than collectible watches, in some way,” he said. “It’s so rare that the prices continue to appreciate, and they seem to defy recessions.”
O’Leary said he’s been looking into owning this asset class for a few years and that he’s adding Saturday’s card to a host of other basketball cards he already owns.
