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Members of the billionaire Koch family are in talks to purchase a minority stake in the Brooklyn Nets, according to reports.
Bloomberg were first to report news of the potential deal, which could also include BSE Global – the Nets holding company that also owns its Barclays Center home and the WNBA’s New York Liberty among other sporting ᴀssets.
Talks are said to be ongoing between the Koch family and Nets owner Joe Tsai, who completed a $3.5billion deal to ᴀssume full control of the NBA franchise back in 2019.
The Koch family – led by 88-year-old Charles Koch – are one of the richest and most influential in the country with an estimated net worth of $64bn.
It is believed their family investment vehicle, 1888 management, is interested in purchasing the stake in the Nets.
Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai (left) is in talks to sell a minority stake to the billionaire Koch family, led by Charles Koch (right)
The Koch family, worth an estimated $64bn, are discussing a potential deal for a 10 percent stake in the Nets (Pictured: Charles Koch with son Chase)
Tsai sealed a $3.5bn deal to ᴀssume full control of the NBA franchise back in 2019
Dailymail.com has reached out to the Brooklyn Nets for further information.
According to Sportico, the Koch family are in discussions to acquire a 10 percent stake in BSE Global, with Julia Koch understood to be at the heart of those talks.
Julia is one of the richest women on the planet with an estimated fortune of $59bn, which she inherited from late husband David.
Koch Industries, the family business in which both David and brother Charles joined back in the 1960s and 70s, is the second largest privately held company in the United States.
The Koch brothers have also been donors for the Republican party over the years, spending $400m to promote conservative policies back in 2018.
The Nets are valued at just under $4bn, making them the fifth most-valuable team in New York behind the Yankees, Giants, Knicks and Jets.
Should the Koch family purchase shares in the franchise, the Nets would have the second-richest ownership group in the NBA behind only Clippers billionaire Steve Ballmer.
They have ventured into basketball in the past, turning Wichita State University’s team into a ‘college-basketball powerhouse’ – according to The New Yorker – after donations from both Charles and Koch Industries.
