Mikhail Prokhorov purchased the Nets in 2010 for $200 million. Form the onset, he has always seemed to be about business more so than basketball. After seeing the Clippers sold for $2 billion recently, Prokhorov may be thinking it’s time to cash out. If he’s truly a business man through and through, then there’s probably a lot of stock in the reports that he’s looking to sell his majority stake in the team.
In the discussions, the team is being valued at $1.7 billion and the arena at $1.1 billion, said multiple sources. There is no agreement yet, nor a deadline for a conclusion of the discussions. The next step would be an agreement in principle followed by a closing. The combined assets of a new entity could be as high as $8 billion.
The first source emphasized that Prokhorov would continue to control the team as “governor and controlling owner” of the team “for the foreseeable future.” Prokhorov currently owns 80 percent of the team and 45 percent of the arena, with [Brett] Ratner’s Nets Sports & Entertainment owning the remaining share of the team and the majority share in the arena. Presumably, in a combined entity, both Prokhorov and Ratner’s shares would be reduced, but still be controlling.
Dodgers Chairman and Guggenheim CEO Mark Walter said: “I am the controlling owner of the Dodgers and I have no intention of selling the Dodgers or moving them into a new ownership group.” […] Walter acknowledged that he had not seen the Nets financials but “they are a terrific franchise and I would be happy to look at their information and any proposal anyone wanted to make to me — as I would with any proposal.”
