Panda Express Founders Become Trail Blazers Owner
By Romen Basu Borsellino | 13 Oct, 2025

Andrew and Peggy Cherng, the billionaire founders of Panda Express, add a late twist to their careers by becoming minority owners of the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers.

Jay Z and Beyonce

Bill and Hillary

Taylor and Travis

…Andrew and Peggy Cherng?

Peggy, Andrew, and Andrea Cherng at the original Panda Inn

The 77 year-old founders of Panda Express may not be the first two names that come to mind when you think of power couples.  But there’s no reason they shouldn’t be.

They did, after all, turn a single sit down restaurant — The Panda Inn in Pasadena, CA —into the fast food empire that made them billionaires. 

And in the time between the launch of the first restaurant in 1973 and the current iteration of Panda Express, which boasts 2,400 locations, the Cherng’s have been involved in a lot more than just Chinese food.  Their additional endeavors include hotel ownership, philanthropy, and expansion to different restaurants. 

Now they’re adding another bullet point to their resumes: minority owners of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers.

One might be inclined to ask: why?

Few would be surprised to see a collaboration between Panda Express and the Trail Blazers

“Minority” Owners

No, two restaurateurs who together hold a master’s in computer science, a master’s in applied mathematics and a PhD in electrical engineering are not the likeliest candidates to become owners of an NBA team. 

Compare them to, say, 45 year-old Mat Ishbia, the billionaire owner of the Phoenix Suns.  As a former point guard who won a national championship with Michigan State University in 2000, it’s no surprise that he would want to own a team. 

Not to mention minority ownerships by various former NBA greats like Michael Jordan, Dwyane Wade, Magic Johnson, and Shaquille O’Neal.

Then there’s the fact that people of color, by and large, account for a fraction of sports franchise ownership compared to White people, makes this seem even more unlikely. 

Just two people of color — Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive and Brooklyn Nets owner Jose Tsai, both of whom are AAPI  — boast majority ownership of an NBA team.

But by looking at the Cherng’s careers as a whole, it’s hard to see the move as particularly surprising.

Investment Opportunity

Let’s start with the obvious reason that a billionaire couple would buy a sports team: Investment opportunity.  One needn’t be emotionally invested in a business to view ownership as a good financial play, particularly when you already have the means to afford it…and then some.

Not to mention that this particular investment could help strengthen their other businesses. Few would be surprised to see one or more Panda Expresses serving fans in a new Trail Blazers arena.  Or perhaps an expansion of their hotel ownership that caters to travelers in town for a game.

But that said, I don’t think this was a purely financial decision. 

Portland Ties

A key aspect of the deal, which will make NHL’s Carolina Panthers owner Tom Dondan the majority stakeholder of the Trail Blazers, was keeping the team in Portland. 

One can only assume that the new ownership will be hailed by Portlanders for doing so, not to mention talk of building a new state of the art stadium.

Peggy Cherng, who was born in Myanmar but grew up in Hong Kong, first came to the US to attend college in Kansas in the sixties but transferred to Oregon State University after her freshman year.  She remained there for the next three years until graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics.

Oregon State University is located in the town of Corvallis, just a 90 minute drive outside of Portland.  Having spent three of her first four years in the United States there, it is highly likely that the area holds a special place in Cherng’s heart.

The Cherng’s have already donated what’s estimated to be nearly half a billion dollars of their fortune to various philanthropic endeavors including a single $100 million gift to City of Hope, for cancer treatment research. 

They’ve also contributed generously to Feeding Hunger, St. Rose Dominican Hospital in Henderson, NV and higher education programs at Caltech, Cal Poly Pomona, and the University of Missouri.

While this is far from a donation, giving back to Portland, a place that’s near and dear to them, may certainly have played a role in their decision.  

Yang Hansen 

While it likely didn’t factor into their decision to purchase the team, it surely doesn’t hurt that the Trail Blazers are now home to Yang Hansen, the 20-year old basketball star from the Shandong region of China.

While Yang’s surprising selection midway through the first round of this year’s NBA draft sent shockways through the basketball world, the 7 foot 2 inch Center’s standout performance during summer leagues and NBA pre-season play has already caused many of his doubters to eat their words.

Hansen’s selection makes him the NBA’s highest Chinese draft pick since 2007 and the third highest pick from China of all time. 

In the same way that Chinese fans flocked to Yao Ming during his tenure on the Houston Rockets or Jeremy Lin’s “Linsanity” phenomenon on the New York Knicks, it is highly likely that Hansen will take on the role of NBA’s unofficial cultural ambassador to China if he meets expectations.

And who better to accompany him on that journey than two of the most successful Asian American businesspeople in history?  It feels fitting that the Cherng’s and Hansen will all be joining the Trail Blazers family at roughly the same time. 

The Next Generation

There are few elders in my life who could name the starting five of any squad, let alone be involved in ownership.  The Cherng’s are of course septuagenarians. 

While they hopefully still have decades of prosperity ahead of them — never doubt Asian American longevity, even if a steady diet of orange chicken may not be doing them any favors — the Cherng’s must surely have future generations in mind with this purchase. 

Such as, say, Andrea Cherng, the Chief Brand Officer for Panda Restaurant Group.  Andrea is a highly successful business woman with an ivy league undergraduate diploma as well as degrees in law and business.  She’s tasked with the strategic evolution and marketing position of the Panda brands. 

She’s in her early 40s and, yes, is the daughter of Andrew and Peggy, which not only gives her a lifetime of experience with the business, but as a potential heir, allows her to look forward to the future.  While she has frequently discussed her focus on innovation within the restaurants, I would imagine that her ideas might extend beyond just the restaurants and into the family’s other business ventures as well. 

Innovation has, after all, defined the Panda Brand from the start.  Their implementation of the company’s groundbreaking sales and analytics software is credited as one of the reasons the company has enjoyed so much success. 

Who knows what they have in store for the sport of basketball.