There’s now a famous, filthy rich hedge-fund manager who owns a minority stake in the Mets, but it’s not David Einhorn. It’s Steve Cohen of SAC Capital, who dropped a mere $20 million on the deal, a tenth of what Einhorn was on the hook for before his deal to buy a stake in the team fell through late last summer. It was Einhorn’s backing out of the deal that left the Mets’ majority owners scrambling for a solution; the one they hit upon involved selling ten minority shares instead of one, making it more of a casual commitment kind of thing for people who hear the words “exclusive access to Mr. Met” and think, “Sure, why not? That seems worth some cash.”
Cohen is joined by six others so far, meaning the Mets just need to find three more people intrigued by Mets business cards that say “Owner.” (No, really. That’s not some kind of jokey throwaway line. That’s one of the perks the team is prominently advertising.) Cohen, meanwhile, appears to be looking at his Mets commitment as some kind of fun-size candy bar version of what he really wants: A king-size, majority stake in a team. He’s bid on the financially troubled L.A. Dodgers already.
