BROOKLYN — A Russian billionaire who owns a majority stake in the Brooklyn Nets and a part of the Barclays Center is planning to buy the team and arena outright, a new report says.
Mikhail Prokhorov currently owns 80 percent of the basketball team and 45 percent of the Brooklyn sports arena where they play, but hopes to buy them both from the previous owner and developer, Bruce Ratner of Forest City Enterprises according to a report by Bloomberg Business.
The report included no specifics about how much Prokhorov has agreed to pay for the arena and its team. The sale will be reviewed by the National Basketball Association.
Nets spokesman Barry Baum would not comment on the Bloomberg report Wednesday.
Inquiries to Forest City representatives, the NBA and Onexim Sports and Entertainment — Prokhorov’s company that holds the shares in the team and arena, according to the Barclays Center — were not immediately returned.
Prokhorov, 50, is a well-known figure in Russia where he made billions in the metals industry and ran for president against Vladimir Putin in 2012 according to Forbes magazine, which estimates his worth at $8.4 billion.
The Nets are currently the second worst team in the Eastern Conference with a 5-13 record.
The team moved to the Barclays Center after the building was completed in 2012. The arena is part of a 22-acre residential and commercial development currently under construction previously known as Atlantic Yards and renamed Pacific Park last year.
