Billionaire hedge fund titan Steven A. Cohen has entered exclusive talks to buy the New York Mets and is set to reach a deal for the Major League Baseball franchise within days, according to a person familiar with the process.
Any deal also requires the approval of 23 of the 30 MLB owners.
The news was first reported on Twitter by co-anchor for CNBC’s Squawk on the Street David Faber. Other bidders for the team, including an investor group led by Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez, are no longer pursuing the team, Faber said in the tweet.
“Alex and I are so disappointed,” Lopez said in a tweet, adding that the couple “still hasn’t given up!!”
The Rodriguez-led group is believed to have offered as much as $2.3 billion in their bid, CNBC reported. The Mets owner will encounter losses of more than $100 million this year and in 2021 given the pandemic impact, CNBC said, citing people close to the negotiations.
The Mets are 14-16 this season, four games out of first place in the National League East.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.
