D.C. United Holdings is a group of investors that control operating rights to D.C. United

D.C. United

D.C. United is an American professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league since its inception, in 1996.Over the...

, a professional association football club that is part of Major League Soccer

Major League Soccer

Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...

 (MLS). The group is led by William H.C. Chang (chairman of Westlake International Group), Brian Davis

Brian Davis (basketball)

Brian Keith Davis is an American former college and professional basketball player who was selected by the Phoenix Suns in the 2nd round of the 1992 NBA Draft...

 and Christian Laettner

Christian Laettner

Christian Donald Laettner is a retired American professional basketball player and entrepreneur. He had a distinguished college and national career, and played in the National Basketball Association for thirteen seasons, from 1992–2005. He is presently a minority holder for the Major League...

 (co-managers of Blue Devil Ventures), and Kevin Payne

Kevin Payne (soccer)

Kevin J. Payne , is a U.S. soccer executive. He is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of D.C. United, Chairman of the Technical Committee and board member for the U.S. Soccer Federation, Vice Chairman of the U.S...

 (president of D.C. United) who will maintain his position with the new investors. D.C. United Holdings are also interested in adding Discovery Communications

Discovery Communications

Discovery Communications, Inc. is an American global media and entertainment company. The company started as a single channel in 1985, The Discovery Channel. Today, DCI has global operations offering 28 network entertainment brands on more than 100 channels in more than 180 countries in 39...

 founder John Hendricks

John Hendricks

John Hendricks is the founder and chairman of Discovery Communications, a broadcasting and film production company which owns the Discovery Channel, TLC and Animal Planet cable tv networks, among other ventures.-Early life:...

, who is also the founder of Women's United Soccer Association

Women's United Soccer Association

The Women's United Soccer Association, often abbreviated to the WUSA, was the world's first women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000, the league began its first season in April 2001 with eight teams in the United States...

, to the "majority-minority" group. Brian Davis and former owner Victor MacFarlane were the first African-American owners in MLS; William H.C. Chang is the first Asian-American. D.C. United Holdings bought D.C. United from Anschutz Entertainment Group

Anschutz Entertainment Group

The Anschutz Entertainment Group is a sporting and music entertainment presenter and a subsidiary of The Anschutz Corporation. It is the world's largest owner of sports teams and sports events, the owner of the world’s most profitable sports and entertainment venues, and under AEG Live the world's...

 for $

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

33 million, a record fee for operational rights to an MLS club. The group is pursuing a soccer-specific stadium

Soccer-specific stadium

Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States, Canada, Australia and South Korea coined by Lamar Hunt, to refer to a sports stadium either purpose built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multipurpose...

for D.C. United in the Washington area.

On May 21, 2009, previous stakeholder Victor MacFarlane announced the sale of his share of D.C. United Holdings to majority owner William Chang, giving him a 98% stake in the organization. On October 21, 2009, Chang bought out Davis and Laettner, who held the remaining 2%, to fully control 100% of the team.