If China, or Chinese businessmen, didn’t own enough of American land, Hollywood, or our politicians, you can now add partial ownership in sports franchises. And while there have been pieces of teams bought in the NBA (Brooklyn Nets, Boston Celtics, and Minnesota Timberwolves) as well as the WNBA, this is the first time an NFL team has been “infiltrated”. And that team is your hometown Miami Dolphins.
Lin Bin, the billionaire cofounder of Chinese internet giant Xiaomi, has agreed to buy a 1% stake in the Miami Dolphins at a valuation of $12.5 billion.
The deal makes 58-year-old Lin the latest known tycoon from Asia to invest in an NFL sports team. The $12.5 billion valuation is a record for a minority transaction. Forbes estimated the Dolphins’ valuation at $7.5 billion before the start of the 2025 NFL season, making them the 11th-most valuable team in the league. The NFL’s 32 teams are worth an average $7.1 billion.
Lin, who holds U.S. citizenship, has a net worth of $10.5 billion that is mostly based on a stake in the Hong Kong-listed technology giant. He was previously an executive at Microsoft and Google after earning a master’s degree in computer science from Drexel University.
Xiaomi is one of China’s biggest companies. The company has been entering the electric vehicle market while selling smartphones, which was the world’s third-largest by shipment in the third quarter of 2025, after Samsung and Apple. They also sell Android “TV Boxes” that operate much like Amazon Firesticks.
Bin agreed to invest as the value of many sports teams are reaching record highs. In 2024, the Miami Dolphins were valued at $8.1 billion when its billionaire majority owner, Stephen Ross, sold a 13% stake to investors including Ares Management.
For Bin, he isn’t just investing in the Miami Dolphins. He gets them alright, but he also gets a piece of Hard Rock Stadium and F1’s Miami Grand Prix. Not so bad for a little old man from China.
