Mat Ishbia, CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage (NYSE:UWMC), is starting a new company that will encompass his investments in real estate, sports and entertainment into a single entity.
The new company will be called the Player 15 Group and will include Ishbia’s sports holdings including the National Basketball Association’s Phoenix Suns, the Women’s National Basketball Association’s Phoenix Mercury and the newly acquired G-League team for the Suns.
“It’s about unifying all of these businesses under one brand,” Ishbia said in a CNBC interview. “Whether you are a star player, whether you’re the janitor or security guy, everyone’s going to do their role,” he said. “Player 15 represents that mantra that we’re all about the team, all the time.”
The new company will also include operations of the Phoenix Footprint Center arena where Ishbia’s team play and along with the $100 million development for a new Suns and Mercury team campus and dedicated Mercury practice facility.
Ishbia is worth about $7.9 billion according to Forbes, and United Wholesale Mortgage will not be part of its holdings.
