Paul Allen’s estate reveals details of the recent sale.
The new ownership group to helm the Portland Trail Blazers includes the founders of fast casual chain Panda Express.
On Sept. 12, the team formally agreed to terms with an ownership group led by Tom Dundon and including the Cherng Family Trust.
In August, the Oregonian reported the Carolina Hurricanes owner was the principal owner in a group that agreed to buy the Blazers for $4.25 billion from the estate of late owner Paul Allen. The group also includes Marc Zahr, co-president of Blue Owl Capital, as well as Portland-area resident Sheel Tyle, CEO of Collective Global.
Andrew Cherng and his wife Peggy Tsiang Cherng co-founded Panda Express in 1983 in California. The chain, known for its orange chicken, initially focused on mall food courts in the 1980s and ‘90s, today has 2,400 locations around the world and nearly 40,000 employees.
Peggy Cherng is a 1971 graduate of Oregon State University who left an engineering career to join her husband’s fledgling business empire. Today the family is worth an estimated $7.3 billion, according to Forbes.
Dundom reportedly asked his friend and fellow Dallas billionaire Mark Cuban to join the deal. But the Shark Tank host, who sold his majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks in 2023, claims he told Dundom he’d only consider involvement with the Blazers if he could be majority owner.
After retiring from Microsoft — which he co-founded with Bill Gates — Allen built an impressive investment portfolio that included real estate holdings and tech and media companies and space flight ventures. In addition to the Trail Blazers, Allen owned the Seattle Seahawks and was partial owner of the Seattle Sounders.
Allen died in 2018 at 65 with an estimated net worth of $20.5 billion. Since his death, his estate including his Blazers ownership stake has been overseen by his sister, Jody. His will stipulates that she sell the team at some point in the future.
Dundon is the chairman and managing partner of Dundon Capital Partners. He’s been credited with a low-key ownership style that helped turn around the Hurricanes organization.
Since the purchase was announced, digital news site Chron has reported on Dundon’s connections to Exeter Finance, a subprime auto lender with a history of unethical business practices.
With the Moda Center in need of improvements and questions over how to pay, the news of the sale has helped allay doubts the team will leave Portland. Leaders like Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, Gov. Tina Kotek and U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden lobbied the NBA to form a public-private partnership to help keep the team in Rip City.
“The Blazers’ legacy and strength have always been firmly rooted in public-private partnership, and that legacy continues today,” Wilson said in a release of the sale to Dundon.
Hopes are also high on the court, where the team went 36-46 last season and finished near the bottom of the Western Conference. The Blazers have been busy this off-season, ditching starters Anfernee Simons and DeAndre Ayton and adding All-Stars Jrue Holiday and Damian Lillard along with rookie Yang Hansen. The Blazers’ first game of the 2025-26 season is Oct. 22.
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