Brett Yormark is expected to step down Friday as CEO of the Brooklyn Nets as the team undergoes an ownership change.
Bloomberg, citing an unnamed source, reported Thursday night that Yormark will resign as the head of BSE Global, the parent company of the Nets and Barclays Center. League sources confirmed the plan to ESPN.
According to multiple reports, minority owner Joseph Tsai, co-founder of the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, is finalizing a deal to purchase the remaining 51% of the franchise from Mikhail Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire who has been the Nets' principal owner since 2010. Tsai is also expected to buy Barclays Center in a seperate deal.
Getty Images Yorkmark, who has been the Nets' CEO since 2005, was instrumental in the team's move from New Jersey to Brooklyn in 2012, which has elevated its brand. And he has overseen all facets of Barclays Center, including operations, event scheduling, sales and marketing.
Tsai bought a 49% stake in the Nets in 2017 for $1.1 billion. The total price he is expected to pay for full ownership of the franchise is $2.35 billion, making it the most money ever paid for a sports team, surpassing the $2.2 billion spent for the Carolina Panthers last year and the Houston Rockets in 2017.