Multiple media sources are reporting that a consortium led by The Carlyle Group Inc. co-founder David M. Rubenstein has agreed to buy the the Baltimore Orioles from the Angelos family. The reported transaction is valued at $1.725 billion.
Rubenstein, 74, is a multi-billionaire lawyer, businessman and philanthropist born and raised in Pikesville. The son of a postal office file clerk and a homemaker who occasionally worked in a dress shop, he attended Baltimore City College and studied at Duke University before earning a law degree at the University of Chicago.
“When I was young, Baltimore was a religiously segregated city,” Rubenstein said in an interview with the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans. “The Jews were in the northwest part of town, and it was very much a ghetto situation. I was 13 before I realized everyone in the world was not Jewish. Up to that point, everyone I knew was Jewish.”
From 1977 to 1981, Rubenstein served as deputy assistant for domestic policy to President Jimmy Carter. In 1987, Rubenstein co-founded The Carlyle Group, which became one of the world’s largest private equity firms.
Earlier this week, Rubenstein stepped down as chairman of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He has also served as chair of the National Gallery of Art, the Council on Foreign Relations and The Economic Club of Washington D.C.. According to Forbes, he has a net worth of $3.2 billion, as of December of 2022.
Rubenstein was honored at the 2018 Charles Baum Symposium at Pikesville’s Suburban Club presented by The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore.
Last December, it was first reported that Rubenstein, who lives in Bethesda, was interested in buying the baseball franchise. Rubenstein will reportedly take over as the Orioles’ majority owner. His investment team reportedly includes Ares Management Corp. co-founder Michael Arougheti, former Orioles great Cal Ripken Jr., former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and former NBA superstar Grant Hill.
The deal must be approved by Major League Baseball, and team owners are scheduled to meet next week in Orlando, Florida. The sale must be approved by a vote of at least three-quarts of MLB team owners.
The Angelos family has owned the Orioles since 1993. The team recently finalized a deal with the Maryland Stadium Authority to remain at Camden Yards for the next 15 years, with a possible expanded commitment to 30 years.
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