Steven Cohen Is Approved as Mets Owner After Clearing 2 More Hurdles
Steven A. Cohen, the billionaire hedge fund manager, received two critical rubber stamps on Friday that all but completed his $2.4 billion purchase of the Mets: One was from Major League Baseball’s owners and the other from New York City — the latter having posed a potential hurdle of late.
“Owning a team is a great privilege and an awesome responsibility,” Cohen said in a statement on Friday afternoon, adding later, “I consider it an honor to be the new owner of this iconic franchise.”
The 29 other M.L.B. owners approved Cohen’s group as the buyers of the Mets in a conference call on Friday, the league announced. Cohen, who had already been vetted by M.L.B. and approved by its ownership committee, needed 23 other owners to vote in favor. Two people familiar with the vote, who spoke on condition of anonymity because M.L.B. did not disclose the tally, said the total was 26-4.
M.L.B. said in a statement that Cohen’s approval was contingent on the closing of the sale with the current owners of the Mets. That was expected to happen “within the next 10 days,” the statement said.
