Brooklyn Nets sell minority stake to MAJOR American political donors 'worth $73.4BILLION'
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One of the America's biggest political donors is buying into an NBA franchise.
Investor Julia Koch, the widow of billionaire GOP financier David, has agreed to purchase a minority stake of the Brooklyn Nets' parent company from owners Joe and Clara Wu Tsai. Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, known as BSE Global, consists of the NBA franchise, the WNBA's New York Liberty, and Brooklyn's Barclays Center.
Koch and her children are worth a reported $73.4 billion, according to Bloomberg, which ranks her as one of the world's richest women.
The Kochs purchased 15 percent of BSE Global, which received a $6 billion valuation for the deal, according to Sportico. A 15-percent minority stake would be worth around $900 million at that valuation.
The Kochs are not expected to have any control of BSE Global, which will continue to be managed by CEO Sam Zussman, Nets GM Sean Marks, as well as New York Liberty CEO Keia Clarke and GM Jonathan Kolb.
Nets owners Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai have sold a reported 15 percent of BSE Global
David and Julia Koch attend the New York City Ballet Fall Gala years prior to his 2019 death
Following in the footsteps of Sheldon Adelson's widow and new Dallas Mavericks majority owner, Miriam, the Kochs are the second major conservative political donor to buy into the NBA in recent months.
Miriam Adelson, an Israeli-born philanthropist and physician, bought a 69-percent stake of the Mavs from Mark Cuban, who has remained the team's minority owner.
While Adelson's political donations have largely been aimed at supporting her native Israel, the Koch family has organized an extensive network of donors to finance a number of conservative causes, from reducing taxes for billionaires to Nikki Haley's doomed primary challenge to Donald Trump.
David Koch, who died in 2019, and his older brother Charles are the sons of Koch Industries founder Fred, who was a founding member of the far-right John Birch Society,
Nic Claxton #33, Mikal Bridges #1, and Dorian Finney-Smith #28 of the Brooklyn Nets look on
Sheldon Adelson's widow Miriam is another major GOP donor who bought into an NBA team
In addition to their political interests, the brothers used their massive inheritance in a number of philanthropical efforts such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Ballet Theatre, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
The Brooklyn Nets are coming off a disappointing 32-50 season. Head coach Jacque Vaughn was dismissed in February and has since been replaced by Jordi Fernandez.
And according to reports, the team has resisted calls to trade star forward Mikal Bridges, considered by many to be the Nets' greatest asset.
Unfortunately for the Nets, the Houston Rockets control the team's first-round picks for the next four years, so rebuilding could prove difficult.
Marks' biggest decision this offseason will be whether or not to re-sign center and defensive stopper Nicolas Claxton, who could command a massive new contract on the free-agent market.
The Tsais spent $3.5 billion in a structured deal to acquire BSE Global from Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov in 2019. Prokhorov, however, spent less than $400 million to buy the team from Bruce Ratner a decade earlier.
