Mighty deal to bag the Ducks

Andrew Edwards

Semiconductor maker Henry Samueli announced an expansion of his

business portfolio Friday by making a deal to buy of the Mighty Ducks

of Anaheim from the Walt Disney Co.

Samueli, 50, lives in Corona del Mar with his wife Susan. He is

chairman and a co-founder of Broadcom, Inc., an Irvine-based computer

chip company. The terms of the deal, which was announced as a joint

purchase by Henry and Susan Samueli, were not disclosed.

The deal must be approved by the National Hockey League board of

governors before the purchase is official.

Henry and Susan Samueli could not be reached for comment Friday. A

Disney spokeswoman referred all questions to the company’s press

release.

In a statement, Henry Samueli said he was committed to keeping the

Mighty Ducks in Orange County.

The deal was welcome news to “huge hockey fan” John Hamilton,

president of the Newport Sports Museum. Hamilton has bought Mighty

Duck season tickets every season since Disney launched the team in

1992, though he said he and other hockey fans were not happy with

Disney’s ownership.

“Disney’s been a horrible owner for a long time,” Hamilton said.

“I think it’s great he bought the team. I hope he wants to win.”

Fans adding posts to the team’s message board were also glad to

hear of the deal. One fan who posted as “Mooseduck” wrote, “Let this

be a celebration of a new era, QUACK QUACK quack.”

Another fan typed, “I think this is wonderful news for the Ducks.

And, as fans, we aren’t going to have to worry about the Ducks being

moved. Woo-hoo! Some good news for a change!”

Hockey enthusiasts have not had good news in a long time. The

Mighty Ducks have not skated since the end of the 2003-04 season. The

National Hockey League last week canceled the 2004-05 season, which

never started because team owners locked out players over a

collective bargaining dispute.

The Mighty Ducks won the NHL Western Conference title in the

2002-03 series. They were defeated by the New Jersey Devils for the

Stanley Cup in seven games.

Henry and Susan Samueli were among the founders of the New

Majority, a California coalition of socially moderate Republicans.

The couple donated $20 million to UC Irvine as an endowment for the

Henry Samueli School of Engineering. The couple have also donated to

Opera Pacific and the Orange County Performing Arts Center, which is

slated to be the home of the Samueli Theater, expected to be

completed in September 2006.

* ANDREW EDWARDS covers business and the environment. He can be

reached at (714) 966-4624 or by e-mail at andrew.edwards

@latimes.com.