Washington: Indian American software magnate Vivek Ranadive, who has become the first person of Indian descent to become the owner of a major US basketball team, plans to build the Sacramento Kings into a global brand.
"It's going to be exciting," he told the USA Today after securing an agreement to buy 65 percent of the Kings from the Maloof family for a National Basketball Association (NBA) league-record valuation of $535 million. "We're going to build a global brand with the Kings. We're going to give the fans the product that they deserve," the minority owner of Golden State Warriors said on achieving his longtime goal.
The development came just a day after NBA owners officially rejected a bid by the Maloofs, who have owned the team since 1998, to relocate the Kings from Sacramento, California, to Seattle, Washington. "It's a little bittersweet, obviously because I'm a huge Warriors fan and I have a lot of friends here," Ranadive told USA Today Sports. "I'm very, very excited to start the new (challenge)."
Ranadive, who left India as a 17-year-old to attend MIT and later founded his $4 billion company in Silicon Valley, Tibco, has the sort of competitiveness and deep pockets that could lead one of the league's most poorly run franchises back to respectability, the USA Today said. NBA Commissioner David Stern has made a concerted effort of late to grow the game in Ranadive's native India, where "basketball is but a blip on their sporting
11:14 PM, May 17, 2013
Mumbai: Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd shares were down over 1 per cent in early trade on Tuesday after the generic drugmaker pleaded guilty to US felony charges related to drug safety and will pay $500 million in civil and criminal fines. The settlement is its largest-ever with a generic drugmaker over drug safety, according to the US government. Ranbaxy USA pleaded guilty to three felony counts related to the manufacture of...
10:13 AM, May 14, 2013
New Delhi: Generic drugmaker Ranbaxy has been fined $500 million by the US government after its subsidiary pleaded guilty to sale of adulterated drugs manufactured in India. It is the largest settlement by a generic medicine maker till date. It includes $150 million in payments for a criminal fine and forfeiture and $350 million in payments for civil claims. The adulterated drugs were made in Ranbaxy's plants in India and...
08:30 AM, May 14, 2013
Puducherry: The opposition AIADMK has accused the Rangasamy-led government in Puducherry of adopting a discriminatory policy against the party out of political vendetta. The party's Puducherry unit secretary A Anbalagan, MLA, alleged that the exclusion of the AIADMK from the State Planning Board was a clear case of discrimination; the government was showing against party legislators. He wondered how those who were not members of the Board were invited to...
11:48 AM, May 07, 2013
Miami Heat forward LeBron James was named the National Basketball Association's Most Valuable Player for the 2012-13 season on Sunday. It was the fourth time in five years that the 28-year-old James had won the game's most prestigious individual award, elevating him among the sport's greatest players. Only four other players - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain - have won the trophy at least four times....
09:08 AM, May 06, 2013
Berlin: Franz Beckenbauer has sought to clarify comments in which he suggested Barcelona would try "every trick in the book" to overturn a 4-0 first-leg deficit against Bayern Munich in their Champions League semi-final second leg on Wednesday. The honorary Bayern president, a former player and coach of Germany's most successful club, said that Barca would "try everything to throw Bayern off balance". "They will deploy all methods, anything that's...
10:56 AM, Apr 30, 2013
Jason Collins, a veteran center in the National Basketball Association (NBA), announced on Monday that he was gay, becoming the first active player from any US professional sports league to publicly reveal his homosexuality. Collins, a free agent who played with the Washington Wizards and Boston Celtics during the NBA's 2012-13 regular season, made the announcement in an interview with Sports Illustrated that was published on Monday. "I didn't set...
11:27 PM, Apr 29, 2013
Chennai: Tamil actor Srinivasan, popularly known as 'Powerstar' among his fans, was arrested Friday in a cheating case, police said. Srinivasan was arrested after a police complaint was filed by Andhra Pradesh resident PS Ranganathan alleging that the actor cheated him of Rs 50 lakh on the pretext of helping him secure a loan of Rs 20 crore. "He (Srinivasan) promised Ranganathan that he would secure him a loan of...
06:24 PM, Apr 27, 2013
Chennai: Tamil actor-director Cheran, known for films 'Autograph', 'Thavamai Thavamirundhu' and 'Yuddham Sei', has launched his personal website in a bid to stay connected to his fans. "In this technological era, best way to stay connected with fans is via digital platform. Since I'm not active on social networking sites, I decided to open a website. It will have information about all my upcoming projects," Cheran told IANS. He launched...
12:51 PM, Apr 22, 2013
"We are here to promote the game at the grossroot and neighbourhood level," said NBA commissioner David Stern, who is visiting India. ...
10:25 AM, Apr 11, 2013
David Stern, Commissioner of the NBA since 1984 plans to make basketball more widely followed in India. On his first visit to the country, the NBA boss says he is confident the league will find greater acceptance in times to come. ...
08:54 PM, Apr 10, 2013
Mumbai: With an increasing number of foreign players making to the top in the professional basketball league, National Basketball Association (NBA) Commissioner David Stern Monday said an Indian hoopster could be seen playing in the league in the next five years. "We already had a woman (Geetu Anna Jose) try out for WNBA and we would expect to have men and women showing up for each of our professional leagues....
06:38 PM, Apr 08, 2013
After a long hiatus, the ace comedian Vadivelu is gearing up to hit the screens once again, this time with a bang. He has a string of projects lined up for him. Having already signed in to be a part of a historical flick, where he will play the role of Thenaliraman, and KS Ravikumar's 'Africavil Vadivelu', the comedian has yet another dream project lined up. Director PT Selvakumar of...
03:33 PM, Apr 08, 2013
Prathiba M Singh, advocate for Ranbaxy and Cipla, fought the Glivec patent case against Novartis. She joined IBNLive readers for an interaction on the legal and moral compulsions behind this courtroom battle and the significance of the Supreme Court's decision for Indian pharma firms and the people of the country. ...
06:33 PM, Apr 03, 2013
The death toll from a tornado that swept through some 25 villages in eastern Bangladesh, rose to 23 with rescuers finding three more bodies in debris, a day after the deadly storm which also left nearly 500 people injured. The storm which hit the area on Friday, left a trail of destruction in 20 villages of Brahmanbaria sadar, Bijoynagar and Akhaura upazilas. ...
06:35 AM, Mar 24, 2013
A tornado swept through nearly two dozen villages southeast of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, killing at least 20 people, tearing roofs off houses and uprooting trees and power pylons, officials said. The death toll could rise sharply as more than 300 people were injured when the twister struck Brahmanbaria district, more than 100 km (60 miles) southeast of Dhaka, on Friday evening. ...
11:50 AM, Mar 23, 2013
Tamil film 'I' will feature actors Vikram and Amy Jackson in lead roles. ...
02:22 PM, Mar 19, 2013
Renaldo Balkman has been banned from the professional basketball league in the Philippines for grabbing a team-mate around the neck during a game. ...
09:09 PM, Mar 11, 2013
Raptors rookie guard Terrence Ross made his first career National Basketball Association (NBA) start in the team's 100-96 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. ...
02:22 PM, Mar 11, 2013
Stoudemire will undergo an operation to remove loose debris in the knee and will miss approximately six weeks. ...
02:05 PM, Mar 10, 2013
