Brooklyn Nets made headlines a few weeks ago when it inked a deal with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. The NBA team since then became one of the brightest and upcoming NBA teams in the league. But, according to a new report, the Nets will have a new owner in the person of the Alibaba co-founder Joseph Tsai.
According to a report from New York Post, billionaire, and Alibaba co-founder Joseph Tsai is at present finalizing a deal with the Nets' current controlling owner Mikhail Prokhorov to purchase full ownership of the Brooklyn Nets. At present, the businessman owns the 49 percent of the Brooklyn Nets, and an announcement of his purchase of the team's remaining 51 percent is anticipated to be announced this week.
The expected full price of the Brooklyn Nets is around $2.35 billion and is the highest ever paid the amount for a sports franchise. Tilman Fertitta, owner of Houston Rockets and David Tepper, owner of Carolina Panthers, each shelled out $2.2 billion to own their respective team. Joseph Tsai purchased the Nets' minority stake in 2017 for $1 billion and allegedly came with the option of purchasing the remaining stake for the amount of $1.35 billion.
In 2010 Mikhail Prokhorov purchased 80 percent share of the Brooklyn Nets and moved the team to Brooklyn from New Jersey. In 2015, the Russian billionaire purchased total ownership of the team. Should the deal pushes through, the sale will mark the end of the transformative period of the Brooklyn Nets basketball and the exit of the owner who once said that he will get married if the team fails to win a championship in five years.
Prokhorov according to Bloomberg, has an estimated net worth of $10.2 billion. And, while the Brooklyn Nets already moved to Brooklyn and the team changed the color of its uniform, the Russian billionaire remains a bachelor even if the team failed to win an NBA championship in five years. Forbes estimates that Joseph Tsai is worth around $ 9.3 billion in net worth and allegedly is also planning to purchase the Nassau Coliseum and the Barclays Center from Prokhorov last March.
Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer bought the LA Clippers for a whopping amount of $2 billion, which is the highest amount ever paid for an NBA franchise at that time. During his leadership, the team turned back from the Donald Sterling period and rebuilt itself as one of the NBA 2019-2020 favorites with the additions of favorite NBA superstars like Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
