Now the sole owner of the San Jose Sharks after securing a majority stake in 2010, Hasso Plattner is, um, rich. As you would imagine. Business publications have listed Plattner’s net worth at $12 billion or $17 billion.
The true number doesn’t really matter. The fact is, he’s got enough to pitch in for upgrades to SAP Center — the 32-year-old home of the Sharks that bears the name of the software giant he co-founded — and the clout to work out an agreement with the city of San Jose to renovate the arena and start work on a replacement that’s at the heart of a new lease keeping the Sharks in the city through 2051.
That was part of Plattner’s appearance at the Sharks’ season opener Thursday, which had a wacky ending in a come-from-ahead overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. But the bigger story might have been the public presence of Plattner, the 81-year-old German, who had a lot to say to local reporters in addition to some ribbon-cutting for a new pedestrian walkway and hobnobbing with fans.
Plattner doesn’t talk often. Reportedly, it had been nearly a decade since he met with the media. He isn’t a total recluse, as he attends Sharks games from time to time, mostly at SAP as Silicon Valley has become his adopted home (Aspen, Colo., is another residence). But he leaves the state of the franchise to the people he has in place to run it.
That’s not to say he isn’t involved with his team. The Sharks are part of his portfolio and a new arena surrounded by an entertainment district might be the goal, but the team is not just an investment for him or an expensive bauble. One of the great things about sport is the emotional connection it can foster. It might be why Plattner has kept away from the media.
“There wasn’t so much to talk about,” said Plattner, according to San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng, alluding to the team’s plummet from Stanley Cup contention to the league’s basement in recent years. “That’s the only reason.”
With that, Plattner’s expansive and, at times, pointed and critical comments Thursday felt like an outpouring of things that he had bottled up. How letting beloved captain Joe Pavelski escape to free agency after the 2019 Western Conference final was, as has long been noted, a mistake. How acquiring Erik Karlsson might have been great in theory for another run at the Stanley Cup, but was not ideal in practice. How the long-term contracts for Karlsson, Tomáš Hertl and Marc-Edouard Vlasic under former general manager Doug Wilson put off a necessary rebuild, then backing the strip-mining job current GM Mike Grier has been doing since his 2022 hiring.
Former scouting director Doug Wilson Jr., who is now with the Seattle Kraken, did not come off well. “He was totally over his pay grade, and that was another mistake I probably made. I didn’t see that,” Plattner said. Karlsson didn’t fare well either, as Plattner noted the three-time Norris Trophy-winning defenseman’s strengths and weaknesses but also added he wasn’t the most “team-friendly player.”
Plattner isn’t above having an owner-player bond with someone he is particularly fond of, such as the gregarious Hertl. And his comments validated what Grier and even Wilson routinely said, which is that Plattner is in regular communication with his top decision-makers. He also gives them autonomy to make important calls, even if it results in errors, which he readily acknowledged Thursday.
Grier has often said that he has Plattner’s full support and that the billionaire is always willing to provide the necessary financial backing. That is important as the NHL salary cap will rise toward $113.5 million by 2027-28 and potentially higher beyond that. That’s the target point for the Sharks when it comes to being a player in the postseason conversation. By then, they’ll have Macklin Celebrini’s second and potentially monstrous contract to work out. And they could be paying running mate Will Smith a lot to lock him down, too.
This is the new age for the Sharks, and Plattner also felt comfortable stepping into the spotlight to herald it in. In naming Celebrini as one of five alternate captains, they’re charting a path for the 19-year-old to eventually don the “C,” and the owner called his star center a leader now, saying, “I’m so happy about Celebrini, how he can do everything, but he does everything possible for the other players, for his partners on the ice.”
Of course, it took this serious downturn in the franchise’s evolution to get the Sharks in position to draft Smith No. 4 in 2023, grab Celebrini with the No. 1 pick in 2024 and take Michael Misa with the No. 2 selection this year. It is very different to have top-five draft picks in the first round versus your best choice being at No. 21 (Ryan Merkley in 2018) or No. 31 (Ozzy Wiesblatt in 2020). But the Sharks have hit on William Eklund (No. 7 in 2021) and they’ve fortified their pipeline with a number of other potential NHLers.
That has Plattner in a giddy mood. He’s like much of the Sharks fan base that is excited for the future, even if there are probably a lot more losses to come in the short term. Plattner said he wants to see Sam Dickinson in the lineup — which appears to be happening Saturday against Anaheim — and would love to see Quentin Musty, Ethan Cardwell and Igor Chernyshov at some point this season.
The owner is also getting tired of losing. He said he has no interest in the Sharks getting in the Gavin McKenna 2026 draft sweepstakes and seeing another wretched season. Shortcuts aren’t being made in this rebuilding effort, and Plattner has left Grier and his staff to execute their plan. (Although he’s got more time on his hands after retiring last year as chairman of SAP’s supervisory board.) But losing has weighed on him, and it hasn’t been fun seeing acres of empty seats for midweek home games.
“It’s hard to talk to you guys when the team is sinking slowly,” he said.
Like his style or not, the Sharks have an owner who is intricately attached but keeps his hands off until he’s called upon. If they start to win and SAP Center becomes the noisy house of horrors the “Shark Tank” once was, it might not be another decade until the media-shy Plattner has something to say.
