Remember several months ago, the news that Yao Ming was going to be the owner of the Shanghai Sharks, save them out of bankruptcy and lead his old team back to the glory days? Well it seems that heroic story was not the happy ending that we all expected. There is now news that the agreement wasn’t final and that Yao Ming would have to pay more to secure full ownership of the club:

Team Yao signed a framework agreement on July 15 with the club’s three state-owned investors to run the Shanghai Sharks, where the 2.27-meter center started his professional career.

Under the agreement, the companies agreed to transfer their stakes in the Sharks to Yao, but now those stakes will be sold on the open market.

There’s already an anonymous fitness center that has expressed interest (surely not the Yao Ming sponsored California Fitness club?!).  If Yao Ming doesn’t agree to pay more, he will have to share ownership with other bidders. Currently the Shanghai Sharks are managed by Team Yao as an “entrusted adviser” for the next 5 years.

It’s not clear at this time whether Yao will raise the offer to be the sole owner or not, but he plans to support the team regardless of who is at the helm. Team Yao is already working on getting foreign help to revitalize the Shanghai club who finished in 17 th (out of 18) in the CBA last season.

This should serve as a reminder of the complex Chinese business environment; nothing is really ever set in stone, not even for the most popular Chinese individual in the world…