« State Agency Reaffirms Land Grab | Main | Is ACORN's Atlantic Yards Connection the Real Scandal? »
September 21, 2009
Potential Nets owner lost billions in last year?
Yahoo! Sports
By Mark Miller
Brooklyn may be gaining an ultra-rich, hard-partying, 43-year-old owner to the NBA team that wants to move there. Bruce Ratner is apparently getting very close to selling a majority stake in the New Jersey Nets to basketball-loving Russian kajillionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who was arrested only a few years ago on suspicion that he was providing prostitutes to extremely high-end clients, according to the New York Daily News.
Prokhorov, the 40th wealthiest man in the world, according to Forbes, is worth about $9.5 billion even though he supposedly lost 51% of his treasure within the last 12 months. Ouch. Still, the guy apparently wants in on this team and is ready to throw in $700 million to help Ratner steamroll all the local opposition to the arena project and take majority ownership of the team.
NoLandGrab: Prokorov didn't get rich by being stupid, so it's hard to believe that he'll bail Ratner out for the privilege of co-owning a money-losing team.
True Hoop, First Cup: Monday
Posted by lumi at September 21, 2009 7:07 PM