Talk:Josh Harris (businessman)

Updates to the article

Hello,

With the exciting and dynamic nature of this page, and the new nomination for a WP:GA, I would like to suggest the following further additions:

In the Finance and investments section:

• Add the following to the sentence about 26North:

In September 2022, Harris announced the launch of his new alternative asset manager, 26North. Harris and 26North, with $9.5B in assets, recruited senior executives from financial firms, such as Centerbridge Partners and Goldman Sachs.

• Add the following to the paragraph beginning with "Harris is on the board of Mount Sinai Hospital:"

In January 2022, Harris invested $10M in Mosaic Development Partners, a real estate development company based in Philadelphia, to help the Black-owned firm diversify the workforce and support development in disenfranchised communities. His investment in Mosaic aimed to create the largest minority-owned development platform in the eastern US. The investment also contributed to Mosaic building a supermarket in the Sharswood section of North Philly for the first time in 50 years.

In the Philanthropy section:

• Add the following at the end of the first paragraph:

Since 2016, Harris Philanthropies has partnered with After-School All-Stars and supported schools including those in Newark, Philadelphia and Camden. Part of that support included a seven-figure grant.

• Add the following at the end of the second paragraph:

That same year, Harris Philanthropies invested $1M in "Fund for Health", a social initiative by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania-Wharton School to improve social support systems surrounding the health and well-being of economically-disadvantaged Philadelphians, and donated over $1M to Penn Med to promote the medical school’s endeavors in recruiting applicants from diverse backgrounds.

References

Dissident93 has been working on this article for a while - any thoughts? Thank you! Calesci2 (talk) 20:08, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

• I've added all of your suggestions but made some minor tweaks to them. ~ Dissident93 ^(talk) 11:36, 16 July 2023 (UTC)

  Thank you, Dissident93, for your helpful additions! Calesci2 (talk) 18:17, 18 July 2023 (UTC)

Birthday

His exact birthday would certainly be on some government record or financial document, right? He's been notable for over 30 years but the closest I've been able to find are gov.uk records that just list December 1964. ~ Dissident93 ^(talk) 13:41, 21 July 2023 (UTC)

Hi Dissident93, thanks for looking into this. Unfortunately, I don't have any official source or document with his birthday

Thanks Calesci2 (talk) 19:37, 30 August 2023 (UTC)

An anonymous IP added an unsourced date of December 18. ~ Dissident93 ^(talk) 10:02, 30 October 2023 (UTC)

A few additional requests

Hi Dissident93, thank you for your help with my requested additions and for continuing to work on updating and improving this page.

In the Finance and private equity section, please tweak the following sentence to reflect the language of the Business Insider article: "In May 2021, Harris announced he was stepping down from his day-to-day responsibilities at Apollo after being passed over as CEO for Marc Rowan, with his large personal focus on sports investments also becoming an alleged source of tension within the company, according to Business Insider.

• I personally avoid the use of "according to...", but I can add a "reportedly" since it hasn't been proven as fact.

Please add to the second paragraph of the Sports and entertainment section that in 2020, Harris organized $7 million in donations for COVID-19 relief and that HBSE pledged $20 million to fighting racial injustice .

• I added both.

In the last paragraph of the Sports and entertainment section, please add the following language following Harris facing criticism for attempting to cut salaries during the pandemic, based on the CNBC source in the article:

"Harris reversed the decision and issued an apology. Harris and Blitzer were some of the original sports team owners who openly pledged to compensating part-time workers for any games or concerts that were postponed or canceled during the season."

• I incorporated it.

Finally, in the Philanthropy and community endeavors section, please add that in March 2020, Harris donated 10,000 laptops for Philadelphia students, to help with their distance learning during the pandemic. .

• This is already covered by "other equipment". I don't see the need to specifically point out laptops when other things were donated/provided.

Thank you very much! Calesci2 (talk) 19:36, 30 August 2023 (UTC) Calesci2 (talk) 19:36, 30 August 2023 (UTC)

• Let me know if there is anything else that can be added or improved and I'll see what I can do. ~ Dissident93 ^(talk) 15:18, 3 September 2023 (UTC)

  Dissident93, thank you for your edits and offer to continue working on the page. I have a few ideas that I'm working on, and will get back to you. Thanks again! Calesci2 (talk) 19:53, 7 September 2023 (UTC)

References

GA Review

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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This review is transcluded from Talk:Josh Harris (businessman)/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Averageuntitleduser (talk · contribs) 15:38, 8 March 2024 (UTC)

Howdy! I'll be getting to this soon! Averageuntitleduser (talk) 15:38, 8 March 2024 (UTC)

Good Article review progress box Criteria: 1a. prose () 1b. MoS () 2a. ref layout () 2b. cites WP:RS () 2c. no WP:OR () 2d. no WP:CV () 3a. broadness () 3b. focus () 4. neutral () 5. stable () 6a. free or tagged images () 6b. pics relevant () Note: this represents where the article stands relative to the Good Article criteria. Criteria marked are unassessed

Well-written

Okay, these comments may seem a bit lowsy, but I really have read the article fully. The prose is just so smooth. On another note, I'm gonna be lenient towards the NBA, NFL, and NHL acronyms in the lead; they'd be a pain to spell out.

• Penn's — this feels a tad too informal, perhaps "the university's"
• Drexel had filed for bankruptcy earlier that year... — this one's a bit of a run on sentence.
• He was among several businessmen in 2017 that met with the Trump administration — this is a bit of a jump from 2009 in the previous sentence. I would move it to the beginning of the next paragraph.
• Harris was included on Sports Business Journal's "Most Influential: Dealmakers & Disrupters" list in 2022. — because of how small the publication is, I don't see the relevance. Has he been put on other similar lists?

Verifiable with no original research

Earwig shows a low score of 22%, a lot of which are long names or ideas that are hard to rephrase. The CiteHighlighter script has most sources green. The Forbes articles in yellow are written by staff members. The three refs in orange, two being press releases, are fine as primary sources. Most of the refs that aren't highlighted at all either pass reliability, are fine as primary sources, and/or are attributed in-text. However, I have some quibbles:

• Consider bundling refs 106—109, or removing one of them if they aren't critical.
• As there is no consensus to its reliability, five Business Insider sources is a fair amount. I would remove or recite most of them.
• I don't see the reliability of PhillyVoice
• Ditto for Buyouts Insider
• Same for the Commercial Observer
• As well as C-Suite Spotlight
• And finally, Front Office Sports. I would remove or recite most of the above. Of course, feel free to contest me on these.

Spot-check

Randomly generated these citations:

• Elfin, David (July 6, 2015). "Q&A with the Owners of the Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Devils and Washington Kastles". MoCo360. Archived from the original on March 22, 2023. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  • Where's the "1982" coming from? Looks good otherwise.
• Maese, Rick (May 7, 2012). "Josh Harris, Philadelphia 76ers owner, has roots in Washington". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
  • Supports the "general managers", but I can't find how you extrapolated the "employee empowerment" bit. Looks good otherwise.
• "Apollo Co-Founder Josh Harris to Not Stand for Re-Election to the Board of Apollo Global Management". Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute. August 11, 2022. Archived from the original on April 15, 2023. Retrieved April 15, 2023.
  • Looks good. Y
• Van Voris, Bob (March 2, 2023). "Leon Black Loses Bid to Revive Conspiracy Suit Against Apollo Co-Founder Josh Harris". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on May 13, 2023. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
  • Again, where is "September" coming from?
• Breer, Albert (May 22, 2023). "Introducing Josh Harris, the Right Owner to Revive the Commanders". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on May 22, 2023. Retrieved May 22, 2023.
  • Does not confirm that he agreed to a plan by Hinkie, I also think the season details need citations. Where does it say that Embiid was drafted.
• "76ers officially sold to new owners". ABC13. October 18, 2011. Archived from the original on March 28, 2023. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
  • I compounded it with a Washington Post piece, but looks good. Y
• "Crystal Palace: Deal agreed with US investors Harris and Blitzer". BBC News. December 18, 2015. Archived from the original on June 24, 2020. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  • Looks good. Y
• Keim, John (July 21, 2023). "Commanders owner Josh Harris focused on 'changing the culture'". ESPN. Archived from the original on August 5, 2023. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
  • Looks good. Y
• Narducci, Marc (August 12, 2020). "Sixers managing partner Josh Harris is part of a multimillion-dollar donation to help Philadelphia-area nonprofits". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on September 23, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  • Looks good Y
• Gurvis, Jacob (July 24, 2023). "New Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris says buying NFL team was 'bashert'". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Archived from the original on October 30, 2023. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  • Where are the basketball league and "48ers" coming from?

Broad in its coverage

A wide variety of sources across a long timeframe are used proportionally. Looks good.

Neutral

Looks good on this front. I haven't found much explicitly negative reporting. Only two comments:

• with diversity, equity, and inclusion, and employee empowerment being promoted within his workplace culture. — the "employee empowerment" bit is teetering on WP:EXCEPTIONAL. Please find some other sources that support it. As well, the "diversity, equity, and inclusion" bit should be attributed to him.
• Due to public criticism, he would reverse a decision to reduce the salaries of HBSE, 76ers, and Devils employees making under $100,000 by 20% during the hiatus. — I feel like this is phrased too positively? Of course, Harris wouldn't be the only one behind the initial decision, but looking at the news coverage, he seems to have gotten a lot of criticism. Perhaps: "In/on [insert date], HBSE announced [insert what happened]. After receiving public criticism, Harris [blah blah blah]."

Stable

No recent edit wars or content disputes.

Illustrated

Images are all creative commons or own works. They all give a better understanding of the topic; I like how the 76ers and Devils pictures correspond with their paragraphs.

Summary

Great (and very diligent) work on this article! I believe it's close to the finish line. Averageuntitleduser (talk) 23:51, 10 March 2024 (UTC)

Let me know if I've missed something in the spot-check, but considering its status, I'm gonna ask you to skim through the article for source-text integrity, especially with months/years and just making sure that citations are not too early or late. I don't expect it to be thorough, however, a lot of my comments were minor. Averageuntitleduser (talk) 03:09, 11 March 2024 (UTC)

All listed comments have been addressed. ~ Dissident93 ^(talk) 09:57, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

I would agree! I think that's all I got! Averageuntitleduser (talk) 13:36, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Congrats on the GA status and some further updates

As 26North gains more press coverage, I would like to suggest adding the following to the Private Equity and Finance section:

• Harris founded the alternative asset management firm 26North in September 2022 to focus on private equity, credit and insurance. By the end of the first year, it held $9.5 billion in assets. In September 2023, the firm named seven new partners and launched a direct-lending business. In 2024, 26North announced a $4.9 billion insurance deal with Life Insurance Co of the Southwest. 26North AUM stands at $22 billion as of May 2024.
• In the Sports Business Section, please add the following:

Harris' stated priority after taking ownership of the Commanders was to establish positive relationships with the current and former players. He reengaged former players who helped win three Super Bowls and build the franchise by honoring them at Commanders Field in October 2023.

In the same section, please add the following in addition to changing the sentence regarding HBSE planning to reduce salaries of employees making under $100,000 by 20% to over $100,000 by 20%, according to the CNBC source:

In March 2020, Harris and Blitzer were among the first NHL owners to publicly commit to paying part-time, hourly and event employees for any postponed or canceled concerts or games. HBSE initially introduced plans, which were quickly shelved by Harris and his partner David Blitzer, to reduce salaries of HBSE, 76ers, and Devils employees making over $100,000 by 20%, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports, which saw the NBA and NHL suspend operations for most of 2020. Harris and Blitzer quickly reversed the decision after it was announced, after receiving public criticism, including an effort by 76ers All-Star player Joel Embiid to cover the losses of those affected.

References

Dissident93, thank you for your continued work on this article and congratulations on achieving GA status - would you mind looking over these suggestions and consider updating the article accordingly? Thank you very much! Calesci2 (talk) 20:17, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

Most of the 26North stuff is leaning on being WP:UNDUE, as we don't need to note partnerships with non-notable (by Wikipedia standards) companies or have yearly AUM updates (typically the most recent one suffices unless previous numbers were notable). Are there any people at the firm or companies under management that have currently have Wikipedia articles? That would establish some notability for some of the partners. I'm also unsure how important launching a direct-lending business is and this part doesn't seem to be cited either. For now, I'll go with "Harris founded the alternative asset management firm 26North in September 2022, investing primarily in private equity, credit, and insurance companies. The firm had $22 billion of assets under management as of May 2024".

The proposed Commanders statement I also disagree with adding, as connecting with fans and former players is pretty much what any decent owner of a sports team should be doing. I corrected the "under" typo but the addition of "which were quickly shelved by Harris and his partner David Blitzer" is redundant to "Harris and Blitzer quickly reversed the decision after it was announced" below. I also previously removed "Harris and Blitzer were among the first NHL owners to publicly commit to paying part-time, hourly and event employees for any postponed or canceled concerts or games" for leaning on having a positive bias, as it's not like this was a groundbreaking decision or that they were the only ones to do this during the pandemic. Maybe it could be written into the paycut sentence? ~ Dissident93 ^(talk) 23:41, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

Hi Dissident93, thank you for your prompt and thoughtful response. I want to address some of your points:

• The 26North direct-lending business is cited in the [Financial Times article|https://www.ft.com/content/cf38f141-3ee4-4a5a-904d-e294af71b5a1] that I included above.
• I understand that adding partners who do not have their own Wikipedia articles violates WP:UNDUE. Would you consider instead including that 26North named seven new partners, formerly from Brookfield Asset Management, Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs?
• As per your suggestion regarding the commitment to pay employees for canceled events, I've included it below in the pay cut section:

In March 2020, Harris and Blitzer were among the first NHL owners to commit to paying employees for any postponed or canceled events. That month, Harris also introduced plans to reduce salaries of HBSE, 76ers, and Devils employees making over $100,000 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports, which saw the NBA and NHL suspend operations for most of 2020. They reversed the decision within a week of receiving public criticism, including an effort by 76-ers All-Star player Joel Embiid to cover the losses of those affected. Thank you! Calesci2 (talk) 18:28, 31 July 2024 (UTC)