What is Melvin Capital? All about Gabe Plotkin's company as he is set to take over NBA team Charlotte Hornets

Gabe Plotkin, the founder of Melvin Capital, is set to take over as the majority owner of the Charlotte Hornets. Melvin Capital is an American investment management firm based in New York City.

This comes after much speculation about Michael Jordan's future as an owner.

According to reports, Jordan has finalized a deal to sell a large part of his stake in the team to Melvin Capital's founder.

The group includes minority owner Gabe Plotkin, Atlanta Hawks minority owner Rick Schnall, J. Cole, and several others. According to a report from the Charlotte Observer, Schnall is in the process of selling his stake in the Atlanta Hawks.

The expectation is that Jordan will continue to remain involved in the franchise. With the draft right around the corner, it's no secret that Jordan and the team were hoping to land the number one pick in order to draft Victor Wembanyama.

At the NBA Draft Lottery, Jordan's Hornets wound up landing the second overall pick, which is expected to be either Brandon Miller or Scoot Henderson.

Now, with Melvin Capital founder Gabe Plotkin's group at the helm, the Hornets will look to build momentum toward the postseason after making the playoffs just twice in the last 10 years.

According to BleacherReport, Jordan's stake was sold at a $3 billion valuation, earning him a reported $1.4 billion.

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Looking at Melvin Capital's history

Plotkin founded the firm in 2014, which primarily invested in consumer stocks. Most notably the firm was in the headlines in 2021 when a series of short bets went catastrophically wrong thanks to a group of investors on the subreddit r/WallStreetBets.

With Reddit users dumping money into GameStop, Melvin Capital wound up sustaining losses in excess of $6 billion. By the time the squeeze had ended, the firm had lost nearly half of its assets, reporting a 39% decline for the year.

Milwaukee Bucks v Charlotte Hornets

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The following year, in May of 2022, on the heels of massive losses the year before, Plotkin shut down the fund, returning the remaining money to investors.

At the time, Plotkin wrote a letter to investors, relayed to the public by Insider, which read:

"The past 17 months has been an incredibly trying time for the firm and you, our investors. I have given everything I could, but more recently that has not been enough to deliver the returns you should expect. I now recognize that I need to step away from managing external capital."

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