Who is David Koch Jr.? Meet billionaire heir closing in on becoming Nets minority owner
TORONTO — David Koch Jr. is on the brink of becoming the Nets’ newest minority owner — and among the NBA’s youngest and wealthiest.
Koch Jr., who is still in his late 20s, has been shopping for a team investment for roughly a year, a source familiar with the situation told the Post.
Now he’s in discussions with Nets owner Joe Tsai about buying a stake in Brooklyn.
Bloomberg first reported the news.
The talks are advanced and have been going on for over a month, a source told The Post.
He’s a member of the wealthy Koch family
The Koch family is one of the wealthiest and most influential in the entire country, their political clout well-documented.
Koch Jr.’s father David Sr. died in 2019, and his mother Julia is working with her son on this bid to buy roughly 10 percent of BSE Global, the parent company that owns not just the Brooklyn Nets but the WNBA’s New York Liberty, Barclays Center and several other holdings.
His mother has donated to Lincoln Center
Julia has donated significantly to Lincoln Center, where Tsai’s wife — BSE Vice Chair Clara Wu Tsai — is on the board.
She is estimated to be worth between $60 billion and $65 billion, dependent on the source.
Either way, she is believed to be the second-richest woman in the world.
That vast family fortune would make the Kochs the second-richest ownership group involved in the NBA, behind only billionaire Steve Ballmer, who owns the Los Angeles Clippers.
He lives in NYC
Koch Jr. is a big basketball fan and lives in New York City. There are rumors that he initially tried to buy a stake in the Knicks. That would only be logical, because the Garden would be home for him.
A 2021 Duke grad with a BA in political science and government, Koch Jr. actually worked under Jim Dolan as a Membership Experience Executive for Madison Square Garden Sports.
Instead, now he’s looking on the other side of the East River at acquiring a share of the rival Brooklyn Nets.
While Sportico estimated the Nets are worth $3.98 billion, an industry source that spoke with The Post thought the minority stake would be sold at a hefty $4.8 billion valuation.
