After leading the investor group that bought the Tampa Bay Rays in October, Patrick Zalupski said in a letter to Dream Finders Homes Inc. shareholders that he remains committed to running the Jacksonville-based homebuilder.
The comments in the Dec. 29 letter were Zalupski’s first public statements on his role at Dream Finders since completing the Rays deal.
Zalupski is chairman and CEO of the company he founded in 2008 and remains its largest shareholder, controlling more than 60% of the stock.
“Most of you are aware that your CEO led an investor group in acquiring the Tampa Bay Rays MLB franchise, which closed in October of 2025. While this will add to my workload, it does not deter in any way from my focus or commitment to DFH,” he said in the letter.
“The Rays have hired a great CEO, Ken Babby, who is running the team’s business operations, while our already world class baseball operations will stay in place,” Zalupski said.
Babby owned the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp and another minor league baseball team, the Akron RubberDucks.
However, the Jumbo Shrimp announced Dec. 9 that Babby and his partners sold the teams to Prospector Baseball Group.
Zalupski said in his letter he has no plans to shed his Dream Finders stake.
“My Dream Finders position will remain my largest equity holding,” Zalupski said.
“It is not the primary collateral in my Rays borrowing, and I do not expect to have meaningful stock sales for this investment.”
While Dream Finders accounts for much of Zalupski’s wealth, the value of his investment had dropped significantly as the stock fell over the last three months in a weak homebuying market.
Zalupski’s 59.7 million shares were worth $1.88 billion when the stock reached its 2025 high of $31.50 in September.
However, the stock fell to a 52-week low of $17.27 on Dec. 29, reducing the value of his shares to $1.03 billion.
Zalupski, who has not disclosed the amount of his stake in the Rays, expects the franchise to increase in value.
“The goal is for this to be a long-term appreciating asset that will hopefully require limited amounts of my time and resources once we have the new ballpark and development determined,” he said.
The Rays have been seeking for several years to build a new ballpark in the Tampa area to replace Tropicana Field, its current home in St. Petersburg.
“I believe this is a unique opportunity to own a world class asset that will elevate DFH’s profile in the state of Florida and across the country,” Zalupski said.
“If I did not genuinely believe this purchase would contribute meaningfully to DFH’s long term success I would not have gone through with the acquisition.”
Zalupski’s letter to shareholders at the end of 2025 was actually a letter to discuss the company’s results for 2024.
Similarly, he sent a shareholder letter for 2023 on Dec. 14, 2024, admitting it was overdue.
“This 2024 letter is again long overdue — sometimes you learn the hard way that it is better to under promise and over deliver. I will make no commitments as to when the 2025 letter will be published and hopefully, I will beat expectations,” Zalupski said.
“2025 has been a busy, but challenging, year and our company has focused on continuous operational improvements, investment in human capital and infrastructure and making the right decisions to achieve long-term growth,” he said.
In October, Dream Finders lowered its forecast of home closings for 2025 to 8,500, from its previous forecast of 9,250, because of the slow market.
Zalupski told shareholders he expects the Rays deal to help Dream Finders in the Tampa market.
“We believe Tampa is going to be a great DFH market. We organically started this division in 2023 and are very excited about its prospects, particularly given our newest local sponsorship relationship,” he said.
“I hope to see you all at a game in Tampa Bay soon!”