DEAL DEAD?
Details on what might be killing the Mets sale to billionaire Steve Cohen
Steve Cohen is absolutely not playing around.
The hedge-fund billionaire informed the Wilpons he is walking out of his prospective bid to purchase an 80% stake in the Mets franchise after ownership changed the terms of the original deal.
Under the original agreement, announced on Dec. 4, Fred Wilpon, 83, would remain in his role of Mets CEO and control person and Jeff Wilpon would remain in his role of COO through the 2024 season.
According to a source familiar with the situation, the Wilpons wanted team control beyond the five years they agreed to and also wanted to extend their control of SNY, the Mets’ cable network, for longer than the agreed upon 20-year period.
The Wilpons’ desire for extensions late in the process caused Cohen to walk out of the deal. Cohen is still willing to restore negotiations, but only if they are under his terms and possibly only if those discussions involve immediate control as majority owner, according to a source.
Mets president Saul Katz, brother-in-law to Fred Wilpon and uncle to Jeff Wilpon, and his children want no part of owning the team and would prefer to sell. Among the Wilpons/ Katz family, only Jeff Wilpon wants to extend his ownership of the Mets, according to a source.
Cohen has been a minority owner of the club since 2012. The 63-year-old oversees hedge fund firm Point72 Asset Management and is reported by Forbes to have a fortune worth $13.6 billion. His influence was expected to be an obvious remedy to the Mets’ current financial structure and there is now pressure on the Wilpons to salvage what is left of the deal.
This is not the first time the Wilpons changed provisions of an impending deal to sell the team. In 2011, hedge fund manager David Einhorn was in line to become majority owner, but the Wilpons altered the original agreement, which led to the end of those negotiations and later broke off the deal.
The Mets released a legalized statement Tuesday declining comment after Barstool Sports Radio aired a rumor that Steve Cohen’s prospective purchase of the team was in dire jeopardy.
“The parties are subject to confidentiality obligations, including a mutual non-disclosure agreement, and therefore cannot comment,” Sterling Partners, the Mets’ ownership group, said.
Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen maintained that it was “business as usual” when asked last month about Cohen’s involvement in the team’s recent transactions, including appointing Luis Rojas to the managerial role following Carlos Beltran’s departure.
Fred Wilpon has been the majority owner of the Mets since 2002, when he bought the remaining half of the franchise from Nelson Doubleday Jr. The Mets have since endured 11 losing seasons with just three trips to the playoffs and zero World Series championships to show for it.
Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in Port St. Lucie next week, and it would be in Mets ownership’s best interests to settle the reports surrounding Cohen and his broken deal to takeover as majority owner in the coming days.