Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary Bought MJ-Kobe Card For Record $12.9M

Canadian investor and Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary was reportedly one of the buyers of the record-breaking Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant signed sports card over the weekend.

Kevin O’Leary Among New Owners Of Michael Jordan-Kobe Bryant Card

O’Leary, Matthew Allen, and Paul Warshaw paid $12.932 million for the Jordan/Bryant 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection dual Logoman autographed patch card through Heritage Auctions early Sunday morning.

Bidding pushed past the previous most expensive card ever sold — the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle #311 graded a “Mint-Plus” SGC 9.5 — by more than $300,000.

More importantly, the sports card is the only dual Logoman card featuring both Jordan and Bryant.

“This is the only time there’s been Jordan and Kobe autographed Logomans,” said Chris Ivy, Heritage’s director of sports auctions. “Another one can’t be created. It’s always been looked at by modern basketball collectors as a holy grail.”

O’Leary is known as “Mr. Wonderful” on Shark Tank, while Allen is widely known in the sports card community for having one of the most prolific and valuable collections in the world.

Of course, those on social media know Allen for his username, “Shyne150.”

Warshaw, meanwhile, is a Miami-based entrepreneur and is known throughout the sports card hobby.

“Normally, I would win a card like this on auction and keep it hidden until the new year at minimum yet this is an entirely different situation,” Allen wrote in a post on Instagram.

O’Leary Joined Trio As More Of The Stat Guy

In an interview with CNBC on Monday morning, O’Leary said he joined the trio as more of the numbers and analytics guy, with Allen and Warshaw already established as sports card enthusiasts.

“I was a business partner with him [Warshaw]. I just started and I thought it was nuts” O’Leary said. “And I said, ‘Why would anyone want to pay a million bucks for a piece of cardboard?’ He said, ‘You don’t get it.’ And I slowly kept looking at the numbers.”

“We stayed up until 3 in the morning on Saturday night. … We got together on a Zoom [call]. My wife thinks I’m nuts. She just went to bed saying this is too crazy. You guys are all crazy. And I woke up the next day with her, and we owned the card.”

When asked during Monday’s interview about what type of return he expects from the card, O’Leary said he doesn’t expect the card to hit the market again in his lifetime.

In fact, the 71-year-old O’Leary said it will be a high-value asset that he, Allen, and Warshaw will always hang onto. The Quebec native said he views the card as a possession similar to that of Bitcoin or gold.