There’s promise of a new era for baseball in Baltimore.
Billionaire private equity investor and philanthropist David Rubenstein reached an agreement with the Angelos family to buy a majority stake in the Orioles, three sources with direct knowledge of the deal told The Baltimore Sun on Tuesday. The 74-year-old will become the new controlling hand of the club, ending a 31-year run for Peter Angelos and his family.
Rubenstein announced his retirement from his position as chairman of the Kennedy Center in Washington on Monday, setting the stage for his foray into professional sports. The Baltimore native was reportedly involved in talks with both the Orioles and Washington Nationals over the past year but ultimately decided to buy his hometown team.
Rubenstein was born into a Jewish community in Northwest Baltimore, where he grew up as an only child to a Post Office worker and stay-at-home mom. He attended Baltimore City College, sharing a classroom with former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke.
After making his billions, Rubenstein used his fortune to invest in many philanthropic efforts across the country, including his hometown of Baltimore. Most notably, he’s a Johns Hopkins University emeritus trustee whose donations have helped fund the university hospital’s child health building and otolaryngology department.
Where his wallet stacks up in MLB
According to Forbes, Rubenstein is the 790th richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $3.7 billion. He’s no Steve Cohen ($19.8 billion), who owns the New York Mets, but Rubenstein immediately vaults the Orioles into the upper half of the league in terms of ownership wealth.
The Los Angeles Times estimated Angelos’ net worth at $2 billion as recently as 2020, which ranked among the bottom third among baseball owners. While total net worth doesn’t always directly translate to spending on player payroll, the Orioles’ ownership group now has significantly more resources with which to pull from should it decide to invest them.
How he cracked the top 1%
Armed with degrees from both Duke University and the University of Chicago Law School, Rubenstein spent the first decade of his professional career using his law degree both as an attorney in New York and federal counsel in Washington. He then decided to give up law and start his own private equity firm, the Carlyle Group.
The company grew into a global investment firm with a portfolio that includes $382 billion in assets, according to its website. Rubenstein was one of six co-founders who launched the firm and he remains co-chairman of the board.
David Rubenstein, founder and CEO of the private equity firm Carlyle Group, speaks about the market and recent economic woes at the SABEW conference. (André F. Chung/Staff file photo)
Profile of David Rubenstein, the Baltimore-born businessman who bought one of the original copies of the Magna Carta, recently gave $5 million to the National Book Festival, and just assumed the chairmanship of the Kennedy Center’s Board of Directors. (Algerina Perna/Staff file photo)
David Rubenstein, the Baltimore-born businessman, is shown in 2010. (Baltimore Sun file)
1993: Maryland Gov. William Donald Schaefer, left, signs as Orioles general counsel and investor George P. Stamas, standing, Peter G. Angelos, and Thomas L. Clancey, Jr. look on at the announcement of the new ownership of Baltimore Orioles, Inc. beyond the right field wall outside the warehouse. (Karl Merton Ferron/staff)
Kenneth K. Lam / Baltimore Sun
Baltimore lawyer Peter Angelos is pictured in his law office.
Baltimore Sun photo by Kevin Richardson
Orioles managing partner Peter Angelos told reporters and his players at the end of the club’s postseason run that he would do what was needed to ensure the team’s competitiveness in 2013.
Doug Kapustin / Baltimore Sun
Batlimore attorney and Orioles majority owner Peter Angelos (right) greeted Mayor Kurt Schmoke before a news conference downtown.
Lloyd Fox, Baltimore Sun
Peter Angelos is the owner of the Baltimore Orioles.
Gene Sweeney Jr. / Baltimore Sun
It’s Orioles vs. Kansas City for opening day baseball, as Cal Ripken, Peter Angelos, and then-Gov. William Donald Schaefer pose for a picture after throwing out the first pitch.
Lloyd Fox / Baltimore Sun
Baltimore Orioles vs. Boston Red Sox at Fort Lauderdale Stadium. Orioles owner Peter Angelos (left) talked with Manager Sam Perlozzo (right) after the game.
Principal investor author Thomas L. Clancey, Jr., left, and Peter G. Angelos, Chairman and Managing Partner of Baltimore Orioles, Inc. look at their new digs beyond the right field foul pole outside the warehouse at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Twenty-two people are listed as investors in the partnership of Orioles owners.
Algerina Perna / Baltimore Sun
Orioles owner Peter Angelos and Maryland’s governor at the time, Parris Glendening, speak at a news conference at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun
John Angelos, chairman and CEO of the Baltimore Orioles listens to manager Brandon Hyde during spring training for the 2023 major league season at the Orioles’ Sarasota facility on Feb. 19, 2023.
Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun
Gov. Wes Moore, right, with Orioles chairman and CEO John Angelos at 2023 season home opening day at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. April 7, 2023. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun)
Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun
John Angelos (center) leaves the Circuit Court for Baltimore County in Towson with lawyer Steven Silverman following a hearing on who should control the assets of his father, Orioles owner Peter Angelos.
Kenneth K. Lam / Baltimore Sun
John Angelos, the son of Orioles majority team owner Peter Angelo, is pictured in 2016 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun
Louis Angelos, left, and his brother John Angelos, right, with Mike Elias, whom they selected as the Orioles executive vice president and general manager.
Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun
Orioles Chairman and CEO John Angelos hands a signed baseball to a fan before a Yankees game July 30, 2023, at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun
Orioles Chairman and CEO John Angelos talks with reporters during 2023 spring training in Sarasota, Florida.
Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun
Louis Angelos answers a question during a news conference to introduce Mike Elias as executive vice president and general manager of the Orioles.
Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun
Louis Angelos, left, and his brother, John Angelos, right, with Mike Elias, whom they selected as Orioles executive vice president and general manager, during a 2018 news conference at Camden Yards.
Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun
Louis Angelos (left) arrives Thursday at Baltimore County Circuit Court in Towson with lawyer Jeffrey E. Nusinov.
Kevin Richardson / Baltimore Sun
Louis Angelos attended a Maryland game against Penn State at College Park in 2019.
Rubenstein is among the signees of The Giving Pledge, a campaign started by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to encourage the world’s wealthiest people to commit to donating at least half of their money to charity. Other notable names include Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, Elon Musk, Michael Bloomberg and David Rockefeller.
Rubenstein has worked to meet this pledge in several ways. He’s made sizable donations to the National Park Foundation, several hospital centers, the Public Broadcasting Service, the National Zoo’s giant panda reproduction program, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation and Arlington National Cemetery.
Nobody is a bigger history buff
While much of Rubenstein’s wealth has been donated and much of his time invested as an entrepreneur, the journeyed billionaire still has enough of both to direct toward his obsession with history. Rubenstein is a collector of some of the most historic documents in the world, including the only privately owned copy of the Magna Carta, two copies of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln, and the first map printed in North America.
Nearly all of those documents are on loan to various places such as the White House and National Archives. He’s also published multiple books, hosted TV shows on Bloomberg Television and PBS, and released a podcast produced by the New York Historical Society.
