Not only did Steve Cohen apparently get what he wanted, he did so at a discount.
According to Sportico, Cohen’s final bid for the New York Mets checks in at $2.35 billion, which is roughly $250 million less than the $2.6 billion he originally bid for the team back in December.
Final bids for the team were due August 31 and Cohen is in exclusive talks to buy the team, apparently having beaten out Harris Blitzer Entertainment and the A-Rod/J-Lo consortium that officially pulled out of the bidding war late last week.
Per Sportico, an agreement may be reached for the final sale within a week, something the New York Post’s Thornton McEnery (a frequent guest on WFAN’s Moose & Maggie) had a source tell him was the plan all along.
“Saul wants this done. It was always going to be Cohen,” the Post quoted McEnery’s source as saying, referencing Mets President (and Wilpon in-law) Saul Katz’s desire to have Cohen buy the team.
Cohen already owns an eight percent stake in the franchise, and back in December, was in talks to buy up to 80 percent in a deal that would’ve allowed the Wilpons to retain control for five years and keep Jeff Wilpon in place as COO.
Now, it looks like he’ll get full control for less money, but the sale is still quite an upgrade in terms of franchise value; Fred Wilpon and Nelson Doubleday spent $81 million to purchase equal control of the team in 1986, and the Wilpons then spent $391 million to buy out Doubleday and become sole controlling owners in 2002.