NBA Approves Purchase of Cleveland Cavaliers Basketball Team by Investor Group Led by Quicken Loans Founder Dan Gilbert.

CLEVELAND -- Ownership Group Includes Grammy-Award Winning Artist Usher Raymond IV 

The National Basketball Association (NBA) has approved the purchase of the Cleveland Cavaliers by an investor group led by Dan Gilbert, chairman and founder of Quicken Loans, the nation's largest online lender and Michigan-based home mortgage company Rock Financial. The thirty NBA owners unanimously approved the purchase, which was completed earlier today. Gilbert becomes the fourth owner in the 35-year history of the Cavaliers franchise.

In addition to Gilbert, the new ownership group includes (but is not limited to) David Katzman, Vice Chairman of Quicken Loans and Managing Partner for Camelot Ventures, and Grammy-award winning recording artist Usher Raymond IV.

"Ownership of the Cleveland Cavaliers is an honor and a privilege," said Gilbert. "It also entails a responsibility to the fans and the community. We intend to have a positive impact on as many people as we can throughout northeast Ohio."

"One way to do that is by winning," said Gilbert. "We will focus on excellence at all levels of the organization and do all we can to bring a championship home to Cleveland."

"Another way to have impact is through community outreach. We intend to be a leader in the NBA in community involvement," continued Gilbert. "We will include the entire organization in ways that contribute to the region's many areas of need."

"Gordon Gund and the entire Cavaliers organization are to be commended for all they have done across the region," said Katzman. "They have put many years of dedication and hard work into building a winning team and establishing the solid foundation upon which we will continue to build."

"We will look for fun and exciting ways to deliver the best fan experience in the NBA and to enhance the arena as one of the area's premier entertainment facilities. Usher is the 'ultimate entertainer' and will be assisting us in this area," said Katzman.

"I am excited about becoming part of this ownership group and this team," said Usher. "I will be actively involved with the Cavaliers on many levels, including the game experience and our role in the community. I plan to spend a lot of time with the Cavaliers and look for Cleveland to be my second home town. I know all the partners in the ownership group feel the same way."

The ownership group, which is still evolving, also includes Gordon Gund, who retained a minority ownership position, movie producer Gary Gilbert (Garden State) and several others.

Daniel Gilbert Biography

Daniel Gilbert is the Chairman and Founder of Quicken Loans Inc., which consists of Quicken Loans, Rock Financial and Title Source. The company closed approximately $12 billion in residential mortgage loans in 2004 and has nearly 2,500 employees.

Quicken Loans is ranked the nation's largest online retail home lender by National Mortgage News, the trade publication that maintains industry data. Rock Financial is Michigan's largest home mortgage company and two of its brick-and-mortar branches in southeast Michigan are the largest retail mortgage branches in the country.

Quicken Loans Inc. has recently been ranked by FORTUNE Magazine the 12th best place of their "100 Best Companies to Work For" in America. Rock Financial has been voted "The Best and Brightest Company to Work for in Metro-Detroit." The Quicken Loans website, www.Quickenloans.com, has been named a "Best of the Web" site by Forbes, Money and PC Magazines.

Gilbert founded Rock Financial Corporation in 1985 as a first-year law student. Gilbert, then 22, served as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors. Rock Financial grew into one of the largest independent mortgage banks in the country. In May 1998, Gilbert took the company public. Initially a brick and mortar lender, the company launched Rockloans.com in January of 1999, which quickly positioned itself as one of the fastest growing online direct mortgage lenders.

In December 1999, Intuit Inc. (makers of market leading software TurboTax and Quicken) purchased Rock Financial. The company was renamed Quicken Loans and soon became a leading provider of direct-to-consumer home loans on the Internet, offering mortgages in all 50 states. Gilbert stayed on with Quicken Loans as its CEO during the entire two and a half years Intuit owned the company.

In July, 2002, Gilbert led a small group of private investors and purchased the Quicken Loans subsidiary back from Intuit. While Quicken Loans Inc. is now 100 percent privately held, the company retained all Quicken Loans branding and marketing initiatives, including partnerships with Yahoo!, MSN.com, AOL.com and Realtor.com.

Gilbert also is a partner in private investment group Camelot Ventures, which invests in and operates technology, call center and other businesses. Some of the past and current investments have included contact lens retailing companies Lens 1st, Lens Express and 1-800-Contacts; Kintana, a technology chain automation software developer; and Red Envelope, a leading online and catalog retailer of stylish gifts.

Gilbert was Rawlings Sporting Goods' largest shareholder and was instrumental in effecting the sale of Rawlings to K2 in March 2003.

He also has been a partner and investor in numerous commercial and residential real estate ventures in addition to serving on the Board of Directors of Great Lakes Bancorp, a publicly-held $3 billion Michigan thrift.

He is the president of JARC, a non-profit organization providing housing and services to the developmentally disabled, and sits on the board of The National Neurofibromatosis Foundation in New York City. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Children's Hospital of Michigan Foundation.

Gilbert has earned many industry and community accolades including the highly coveted "Entrepreneur of the Year" award from Ernst and Young in 1999. He was inducted into the Junior Achievement Hall of Fame in May 2003. Gilbert received an undergraduate degree from Michigan State University (no, he is NOT a Wolverine!), a law degree from Wayne State University and is a member of the Michigan State Bar.

David Katzman Biography

David Katzman is the Managing Partner for Camelot Ventures and Vice Chairman, Quicken Loans.

Camelot Ventures is a private investment group which invests in technology and other businesses. Some of the past and current investments have included contact lens retailing companies Lens 1st, Lens Express and 1-800-Contacts; Kintana, a technology chain automation software developer; Rawlings Sporting Goods; and Red Envelope, a leading online and catalog retailer of stylish gifts.

After 12 months of passively investing with Camelot Ventures, Katzman resigned from The Home Depot on April 1, 2000, to pursue venture investing and advising full time.

As former President of the Home Depot S.O.C., a division of The Home Depot USA, which specializes in the processing of special orders for The Home Depot stores nationwide, his responsibilities included developing The Home Depot's call center strategy for North America, process flow for handling special orders from initial customer contact to vendor payment, and full systems integration between the call centers, the internet, the vendors and the stores. While President of this division, The Home Depot's overall store sales grew from $20 to $40 billion throughout North America.

Mr. Katzman began his career by working in various retail positions with chain store experience until he founded DeeKay Enterprises, Inc., in 1987. This was the start of a 10-year run at successfully launching a variety of consumer oriented companies including a Midwest home decor retail chain, Habitat; the nation's second largest direct to consumer contact lens company, Lens 1st; and the number one direct to consumer home decor company, National Blinds and Wallpaper.

Home Depot purchased DeeKay Enterprises in 1997 and acquired all of the assets to strategically enter the direct to consumer marketplace and strengthen its special order systems in the stores.

Mr. Katzman sits on the Boards of Directors for Quicken Loans, the nation's largest online direct mortgage lender, and formerly served on the board of 1-800-Contacts (NASDAQ - CTAC) the largest direct to consumer contact lens company in the world. Other Board positions include RealAge.com, a medical advocate and permission marketing site with over 1.5 million registered and active users.

He earned a B.A. in accounting/finance at Michigan State University and attended Detroit College of Law for his graduate work.

Mr. Katzman is involved in a number of community organizations charities including past Chairperson of HAVEN charity (a non-profit that supports domestic abuse cases), Honorary Host of ORT charity (an educational non-profit), JARC (a non-profit that serves the developmentally disabled). Mr. Katzman also is an all around fund raiser for numerous other non-profits.

Usher Biography

Born in Chattanooga on October 14, 1978, Usher Raymond IV was raised by his single mother (and manager) Jonnetta Patton. As early as junior high school, Usher began entering local talent shows. He was performing at a "Star Search" competition at age 13 when he was spotted by an A&R rep from LaFace who arranged an audition with L.A. Reid. A record contract soon followed.

Usher was one month shy of his 15th birthday when his modest debut LaFace single made the R&B chart in late-'93, "Call Me a Mack," from the movie soundtrack of John Singleton's Poetic Justice. One year later, Usher, his self-titled debut album, arrived, co-executive produced by Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs. It rose to #25 on the R&B chart.

My Way, co-executive produced by L.A. Reid, Babyface and Dupri, marked the real genesis of Usher's career as a star, and has gone on to earn 6-times platinum album sales in the U.S. alone. Usher received his first Grammy Award nomination as Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for "You Make Me Wanna," which was also nominated for a "Soul Train" Music Award as Best Male R&B/Soul Single.

Usher's fourth album, 8701, was released August 7, 2001. Because of Grammy deadline peculiarities, "U Remind Me" was able to win the Best Male R&B Vocal award at the ceremonies in February 2002 and "U Got It Bad" won the same award one year later, making Usher the only artist besides Luther Vandross and Stevie Wonder to win that award in consecutive years.

His fifth album, Confessions, is certified 7-times RIAA platinum in the U.S. alone and has surpassed 11 million copies worldwide. It spun off three consecutive #1 Pop/#1 R&B hit singles: "Yeah!" (featuring Lil' Jon & Ludacris), "Burn" and "Confessions Part II." Awards received from this album include:

--2004 BET Awards: Best Male R&B Artist award and "Yeah!" won the Viewers' Choice award.

--MTV Video Music Awards: Best Male Video and Best Dance Video for the hit "Yeah!"

--World Music Awards: Best Male Artist, Best Male Pop Artist and Best R&B Artist.

--Source Hip-Hop Music Awards: "Yeah!" won as the R&B/Rap Collaboration of the Year and Usher was named Male R&B Artist of the Year.

--Radio Music Awards: Artist of the Year - Hip Hop/Rhythmic Radio, Cingular Artist of the Year, and "Yeah!" won as Song of the Year - Hip-Hop/Rhythmic Radio

--American Music Awards: Favorite Male Artist and Favorite Album (Confessions) in both the Pop/Rock and Soul/R&B categories.

--MTV Europe EMAs: Best Male and Best Album.

At this year's 47th Annual Grammy Awards, which took place on February 13th, 2005, Usher picked up three Grammy awards for Best Contemporary R&B Album, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.