We’re starting to hear some of the names of people who might be bidding for the Seahawks. While the betting odds include the known guys such as Steve Ballmer and Jeff Bezos, with no real confirmation of their interest, a few others have emerged this week.

Among them are Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and a 49ers minority owner, and Boston Celtics investors Aditya Mittal and Wyc Grousbeck, according to Sportico. Canadian billionaire Steve Apostolopoulos, who tried to buy the Washington Commanders, also could be a bidder, according to Albert Breer.

Ballmer, former Microsoft CEO who owns the Los Angeles Clippers, is the betting favorite (2/1) to become the Seahawks’ next majority owner, via BetOnline. Behind him are Apple CEO Tim Cook (3/1), Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg (6/1) and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (7/1).

However, none of those guys are confirmed to have any interest. In fact, spokespeople for Cook and Zuckerberg denied their interest. And Breer said of Ballmer and Bezos: “I’m not sure either is a probable bidder.”

The over/under on the sale price is $8.5 billion.

Let’s take a look at the three prospective groups revealed by Sportico and Breer.

Vinod Khosla

Khosla, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems who has a net worth of $14.5 billion, recently submitted a letter of intent to submit a bid for the Seahawks, sources told Sportico.

Khosla, a 71-year-old Stanford alum, is already part of the NFL ownership club. He acquired 3.1% of the 49ers in May 2025. He would need to divest of that ownership in the event he won a bid to buy the Seahawks. But approval for a Seahawks sale by other NFL owners would seemingly not be an issue.

The 49ers deal was part of a 6% stake sale to three local families. Those stakes were based on a value of over $8.5 billion for the 49ers, so you can bet the Seahawks will be sold for at least that amount.

It would be a little odd though for a longtime 49ers fan to suddenly switch allegiances.

Aditya Mittal and Wyc Grousbeck

Grousbeck, a Massachusetts native and another Stanford grad, was lead owner of the Celtics from 2002 until 2025.

Mittal, who comes from a $28 billion family and runs steel company ArcelorMittal, is part of the group that bought the Celtics from Grousbeck for $6.1 billion.

Clearly, they have the funds to lead a Seahawks bid. But what an irony it would be for Boston NBA owners to purchase the NFL team that beat Boston’s NFL team in the most recent Super Bowl.

Steve Apostolopoulos

Apostolopoulos is another second-generation billionaire — his Greek-Canadian family reportedly is worth over $9 billion.

Apostolopoulos bid on the Commanders in 2023. Josh Harris’ group won that bid at $6 billion.

Breer said of Apostolopoulos: “I’m not sure he’s the only big-money bidder from north of the border.”

UPDATE on 5/8: Apostolopoulos apparently told ESPN that he is not pursuing the Seahawks.

Timeline?

Things are clearly starting to heat up.

Any bids from these billionaires will go through Allen & Company, the investment bank being used by Paul G. Allen Estate to lead the sale of the franchise. The law firm Latham & Watkins also is part of that process.

When the Commanders were sold, they had the most significant bids in March 2023 and owners approved the sale in July. That’s a four-month turnaround. The Broncos took initial bids in April 2022 and had an approved sale in August.

Letters of intent usually become binding bids within 30 to 90 days, so it seems like we could see a Seahawks sale finalized by October.