Alibaba’s Tsai to buy stake in Brooklyn Nets

Bloomberg

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Executive Vice Chairman Joe Tsai has agreed to buy 49 percent of the Brooklyn Nets from Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov in a deal that values the National Basketball Association club at a record $2.3 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
The agreement gives Tsai the right to buy the remaining stake of the team in 2021, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the deal hasn’t been announced. Prokhorov has the right to keep a 20 percent stake in the team, the people said.
The Nets declined to comment. The transaction doesn’t include the Barclays Center, the Brooklyn arena where the team plays, the people said.
The price tag is $100 million more than the record $2.2 billion Tilman Fertitta paid for the Houston Rockets last month. That deal included operational control of the team’s arena. In 201O Prokhorov’s Onexim Sports & Entertainment paid $223 million for an 80 percent stake of the team and a 45 percent share of the arena that also houses hockey’s New York Islanders. In 2015 the Russian billionaire consolidated ownership of the team and arena. That purchase from real estate developer Bruce Ratner’s Forest City Enterprises Inc. valued the team at $875 million and the building at $825 million, including debt.
Tsai, whose net worth is $10.7 billion, in August bought the National Lacrosse League’s expansion team in San Diego.