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July 21, 2006
Business group divests its stake in the N.J. Nets
The Bergen Record
By John Brennan
When Bruce Ratner led an ownership group to purchase the NJ Nets in 2004, he came up short in his efforts to raise the capital, leaving the previous ownership holding a 20-percent stake in the team, "until a few weeks ago, when the Ratner group bought out most of its members. The transfer was never announced."
Meanwhile, some group members... invested additional money in the Nets franchise as it lost millions annually for the past several years. Some of those investors are thought to be merely reducing their holdings in the Nets.
David Gerstein is one of several Nets owners who had a controlling interest in the team from 1979-1998 before selling most of the franchise to the Katz-Chambers group. Gerstein, Alan Aufzien and Jerry Cohen are among a group -- once dubbed "The Secaucus Seven" -- that is not selling its remaining shares to Ratner.
"The majority owners are doing a good job, so we want to be part of that," Gerstein said. "The team is very viable, and we're keeping our money in."
Posted by lumi at July 21, 2006 8:09 AM