Report: Chinese billionaire buys Dolphins stake at $12.5B valuation

Chinese-American tech billionaire Lin Bin purchased a small stake in the Miami Dolphins at a valuation of $12.5 billion, a record for a publicly known minority transaction, Sportico reported Tuesday.

Bin is acquiring a 1% stake in the holding company that owns the Dolphins, Hard Rock Stadium, Formula 1's Miami Grand Prix and part of the Miami Open tennis tournament.

The previous top valuation for a minority transaction was $10 billion, set in October when the Koch family bought 10% of the New York Giants.

The NFL's finance committee approved Bin's purchase. Approval from league owners is expected to follow at their annual meeting in late March.

Bin, a consumer electronics magnate, is the co-founder and vice chairman of Xiaomi, a leading smartphone vendor headquartered in Beijing.

With an estimated net worth of $10.3 billion, Bin ranked No. 305 on Tuesday in Forbes' real-time ranking of the wealthiest people in the world. He worked in engineering at Google and Microsoft after obtaining a master's degree in computer science from Drexel.

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross previously struck a pair of deals, each with an $8.1 billion valuation, to sell 10% of the team to Ares Management and 3% to Brooklyn Nets owners Joe Tsai and Oliver Weisberg.

Miami slumped to a 7-10 record in 2025 and made significant personnel changes after missing a second straight postseason. Jeff Hafley replaced Mike McDaniel as head coach and Jon-Eric Sullivan was hired as general manager.