Prokhorov to Sell Brooklyn Nets to Alibaba Co-Founder for Record Amount

As early as next week, Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov is preparing to sell the entire National Basketball Association (NBA) Brooklyn Nets club to Taiwanese businessman and Alibaba Group vice president Joseph Tsai, the New York Post reports , citing sources. According to the publication's sources, the entire club will cost Tsai $2.35 billion. Last year, Tsai bought 49% of Brooklyn Nets shares from Prokhorov for $1 billion, and is now buying the remaining 51% of the club's shares.

Details: During last year's deal, the parties agreed that Tsai would buy out the remainder for $1.35 billion before the start of the 2021-22 season, leaving the total amount unchanged.

• The deal will be a record for the industry — no one has ever paid a larger sum for a sports team. The current record is $2.2 billion, which billionaire Tilman Fertitta paid for the NBA team Houston Rockets.
• The sole owner in the person of Tsai is rather a plus for the NBA, the sources say. The businessman has established ties with China, and the league is looking to expand its presence in the country. Moreover, Tsai is a member of the board of directors of NBA China.
• In April of this year, Prokhorov entered the top 10 richest sports team owners with a fortune of $9.8 billion.

How Prokhorov Led the Brooklyn Nets to Success. In 2009, Prokhorov purchased 80% of the Nets for $223 million—the lowest price an NBA team had been sold for since the mid-1990s—and became the sole owner of Brooklyn six years later, when he bought the remaining 20%.

• The businessman took the team on actively: he increased the number of strong players through trades and expensive contracts with experienced athletes. By the 2013/14 season, it had become the most expensive in the league: the payroll was close to $103 million.
• At the same time, its name changed from New Jersey Nets to Brooklyn Nets, which became the first time the club's name was linked to a specific area. Iconic rapper Jay-Z joined in developing the marketing strategy, even having a minority stake.
• Since then, the Nets have been constantly generating news. For example, they were the first professional sports club in the United States to sign a contract with a player, Jason Collins, who openly declared his homosexuality.
• You can read more about Prokhorov’s work with the club here .

Prokhorov is getting rid of assets. Since 2016, the billionaire has been consistently selling off Russian assets: from a stake in one of the world's largest aluminum producers, UC Rusal, and a stake in Uralkali to the RBC media holding. He managed to sell most of his assets successfully and avoid sanctions.

• Prokhorov decided to sell after the FSB conducted searches in Onexim structures on the day of the Direct Line with Vladimir Putin in 2016, Vedomosti wrote . Thanks to the sale of assets in 2019, Prokhorov was able to take second place in the ranking of billionaires with the highest incomes (not assets) according to Forbes.
• In June of this year, Prokhorov sold his stake in Obuv Rossii, and at the beginning of the year, about 10% of his last metallurgical asset, Intergeo, which owns the Kingash copper-nickel and Ak-Sug copper-porphyry deposits. In Russia, he still has Onexim, which owns a controlling stake in the generating company PAO Kvadra.