![]() ![]() Smith returned home to Provo and took a semester off of school to be with his family, during which time Scott began to conceive of the idea of creating an online survey tool. In the summer 2001, he was interning with Hewlett-Packard in Palo Alto, California when he learned that his father, Scott, had been diagnosed with throat cancer, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. Smith, who stayed on to serve as Qualtrics CEO after the sale, studied business as an undergraduate at BYU. The Millers, who own chains of car dealerships and movie theaters throughout Utah, originally paid a total of just $22 million for ownership of the Jazz in 1985. CNBC Make It reached out to representatives for the Jazz, Smith and the Miller family to request more information on the deal, including whether or not Smith will use any debt financing as part of the purchase ( the NBA allows prospective owners to use up to $325 million in debt to finance the acquisition of a team).ĮSPN also reports that the Miller family will retain a "minority interest" in the Jazz. The exact terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. This is the team I cheered for," Smith told ESPN. Smith, who has an estimated net worth of about $1.3 billion, according to Forbes, told ESPN that he's a lifelong Jazz fan and that he approached the Miller family "a couple times" in recent years about buying the team. The deal values the Utah Jazz franchise at just above the most recent estimate from Forbes ( $1.55 billion, in February). Smith, whose purchase still needs to be approved by the NBA's Board of Governors, is buying the team from its longtime owners, Utah billionaire businesswoman Gail Miller and her family, who have owned the Jazz for nearly 35 years. ![]()
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