Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport steps toward sports ownership with Hapoel Tel Aviv talks
The billionaire founder is reportedly negotiating to buy a 15% stake in the Euroleague club for about $15 million.
Wiz CEO and co-founder Assaf Rappaport is in negotiations to acquire a 15% stake in the Israeli basketball club Hapoel Tel Aviv, according to reports in Israeli media. Rappaport is said to be in discussions with Ofer Yanai, whose ownership group currently controls 81% of the club’s shares, about purchasing part of his stake for NIS 50 million (approximately $15 million). The remaining 19% of the club is held by Hapoel’s fans’ association.
Yanai has already sold 10% of his holdings to venture capitalist Gili Raanan and 15% to businessman Miki Malka, and now appears poised to bring Rappaport into the ownership group as well.
A statement from Assaf Rappaport said: “I had a great time at Hapoel Tel Aviv’s last game, but I have no intention of becoming a basketball team owner at this stage.”
Rappaport, 42, attended Hapoel Tel Aviv’s 89–63 victory over Ironi Ness Ziona on Sunday, sitting alongside Yanai and Raanan. His appearance at the game fueled speculation about his potential involvement in the club’s management and investment structure. Hapoel won the Eurocup last season and is playing in European basketball's premier club competition, the Euroleague, this season.
Rappaport has a longstanding professional relationship with Raanan, whose Cyberstarts venture capital fund was an early investor in Wiz and had also backed Adallom, Rappaport’s first cybersecurity startup, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2015 for $320 million.
Earlier this year, Forbes estimated Rappaport’s net worth at around $2.2 billion. He and the three other Wiz co-founders - Ami Luttwak (CTO), Yinon Costica (VP of Product), and Roy Reznik (VP of R&D) - climbed the ranks of the world’s billionaires following Google’s $32 billion acquisition of Wiz, the largest-ever purchase of an Israeli company. Each co-founder is believed to hold roughly 9.3% of Wiz, which would translate to a payout of around $3 billion before taxes once the deal is completed.
Before founding Wiz, Rappaport served as General Manager of R&D at Microsoft Israel, following Adallom’s acquisition. The same group of co-founders that built Wiz had previously worked together both at Adallom and during their service in Israel’s elite cyber defense units.
