Koch Industries Widow Julia Koch Buys $1 Billion Stake In New York Giants At Record $10 Billion Valuation

The New York Giants have struck one of the biggest deals in sports history, agreeing to sell a 10% minority stake in the storied franchise to Julia Koch and her family. The purchase price of more than $1 billion values the Giants at over $10 billion, setting a new record as the most valuable sports team in the world.

The deal, which must still be approved by the NFL's other owners when they meet in October, will alter but not upend the team's century-old ownership structure. For decades, the Mara and Tisch families have each owned 50% of the club. After the transaction, both families will hold 45%, while the Koch family will hold the new 10% minority interest. Although the stake does not provide any path to majority control, it makes the Kochs part of one of football's most iconic dynasties.

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Record-Setting Valuation

The Giants deal marks the most lucrative minority stake sale in league history and continues a broader trend of skyrocketing sports franchise values. Just a few months ago, the Los Angeles Lakers set a record with a $10 billion valuation in a majority stake sale, only to be surpassed by the Giants' new benchmark.

Across the NFL, valuations have been surging thanks to massive media-rights contracts and the league's recent approval of private equity investment. The San Francisco 49ers sold a 6.2% stake earlier this year at an $8.6 billion valuation, while the Miami Dolphins and Philadelphia Eagles have recently been valued at $8.1 billion and $8.4 billion, respectively. With the Giants now pegged north of $10 billion, they trail only the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots in overall value.

Who Is Julia Koch?

Julia Margaret Flesher was born in Iowa and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, where she grew up in a middle-class family before moving to New York City to pursue a career in fashion. In the 1980s, she worked for the designer Adolfo, dressing high-profile clients such as First Lady Nancy Reagan. Her work in New York's fashion world introduced her to the city's elite social circles, and in 1991 she married David Koch, one of the most prominent businessmen in America.

David Koch was the youngest of the four Koch brothers and a principal owner of Koch Industries, the massive, privately held conglomerate founded by his father, Fred Koch. Headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, Koch Industries grew into one of the largest private companies in the world, with interests spanning oil, chemicals, pipelines, commodities, paper, consumer products, and more. David was also known as a philanthropist, donating hundreds of millions of dollars to cancer research, hospitals, and cultural institutions.

David Koch passed away in 2019 after a long battle with prostate cancer, leaving Julia and their three children — David Jr., Mary Julia, and John — with a substantial share of the Koch family fortune. At the time David died in 2019, Julia's net worth was $50 billion. That instantly made her one of the richest people in the world. Today, she's worth around $80 billion. That makes her the second richest woman in the world, behind only Alice Walton.

In the years following David's death, Julia has largely maintained a low public profile while taking on a more prominent role in philanthropy, real estate, and, more recently, sports ownership.

In 2024, she and her three children bought a 15% stake in BSE Global, the parent company of the Brooklyn Nets, WNBA's New York Liberty, and Barclays Center, in a deal valuing the group at $6 billion

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The Mara Dynasty And Giants Legacy

The Giants' history traces back to 1925, when Tim Mara purchased the franchise for just $500 — about $12,500 in today's money. The team nearly folded in its early years, but Mara saved it by arranging a blockbuster game against Red Grange that drew massive crowds and secured the club's survival. Through the Great Depression, the Giants became one of the NFL's stabilizing forces, raising money for charity games while other franchises collapsed.

Ownership passed from Tim to his sons Wellington and Jack, and later to their descendants. Today, John Mara, Tim's grandson, serves as the team's president and CEO. His nephew, Timothy Christopher Mara, is the Giants' vice president of player evaluation. Timothy is also the father of actresses Kate Mara and Rooney Mara, making the sisters fourth-generation members of the Giants' founding family.

Amazingly, that's not the only NFL franchise that the Mara sisters partially own! On their mother's side, the sisters are equally tied to football royalty: their great-grandfather was Art Rooney Sr., founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers. This unique family tree makes Kate and Rooney Mara heirs to two of the NFL's most powerful dynasties — the Giants through their father, and the Steelers through their mother.