Microsoft board member Steve Ballmer. Saïd Business School, University of Oxford Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has won the bidding war for the Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion, the Los Angeles Times is reporting.

Sources told ESPN's Ramona Shelbourne the Sterling family trust has signed an agreement that would pave the way for Ballmer's ownership.

The $2 billion would be the second-highest ever for a North American professional sports franchise.

After former Clippers owner Donald Sterling was banned from the NBA for life, it seems that everyone has been jumping at the chance to buy the NBA franchise. Last week, he agreed to let his estranged wife, Shelly, sell the team.

Earlier this week, TMZ reported that Ballmer met with Shelly on Sunday afternoon at her mansion in Malibu, California. And later, ESPN confirmed the meeting.

And earlier today, Forbes reported that Ballmer made an offer to buy the team for $1.8 billion.

A source told the Times that Ballmer outbid LA-based investors Tony Ressler and Bruce Karsh, as well as a group that included David Geffen and executives from the Guggenheim Group, which owns the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Geffen Group reportedly offered $1.6 billion for the team, with Ressler bidding $1.2 billion.

Now that the Sterlings have signed off, the last hurdle for the deal is getting at least three-quarters of the 29 other NBA team owners to sign off. They're expected to approve the deal, however, if Ballmer agrees to keep the team in Los Angeles, which he has stated publicly that he will do. Ballmer lives in Seattle, but he told the Wall Street Journal, "If I get interested in the Clippers, it would be for Los Angeles."

Last year, he was part of a group who wanted to buy the Kings and move them out of Sacramento.

Sterling was banned from the NBA for life last month after an audio tape of him making racist remarks to his girlfriend was leaked to the press.

This story has been updated.