Steve Cohen was unstoppable in his quest to own the Mets. He’s not done yet, though, in his quest to buy, buy, buy. Where will the Mets rank among his toys?
Steve Cohen is on a spree and buying roll that is yet to quench his thirst for empire building.
With $14 billion at his disposal, the reported $2.35 billion it will cost him to become the owner of the New York Mets is barely a ripple in a sizable pond.
According to a report in the New York Post, Steve Cohen is also now in the poaching business. He is bankrolling a new entity that’s looking to poach top talent in an industry roiled by the coronavirus.
The venture arm of Cohen’s Connecticut-based hedge fund Point72 is backing a coterie of agents from Hollywood’s top three agencies — WME, CAA, and UTA.
“He’s got an opportunity here, clearly,” a private-equity professional said of Cohen. “This guy clearly sold him on a plan, which is not easy when it comes to Steve Cohen. There must be some major upside here.”
Steve Cohen always has an opportunity. And lately, there doesn’t seem to be an “opportunity” he can’t resist exploring.
Biotech? You betcha, Steve Cohen is in on it.
Forbes reports that Cohen is joining the stampede of capital flowing into closely held biotech companies. The billionaire founder of Point72 Asset Management has created a new arm, obtusely named Point72 Biotech Private Investments.
Steve Cohen: Where Do The Mets Fit In?
Neither Mets fans nor I am interested in any of these maneuverings – except to raise a salient point and to ask a question.
Which of all the toys Steve Cohen owns or will eventually own is hit pet favorite? In other words, of the five luxury automobiles in his garage, which is the one he likes and drives the most?
And where do the Mets fit in his hierarchy of favorite toys?
Steve Cohen may believe he is of the same matter as Superman, but he, like the rest of us mortals, can only be in one place at a time.
In one day, how many phone calls can Cohen field, not counting the ones he chooses to make himself.
Or, is that the way it will work with Steve Cohen, the Mets owner – “Don’t call me, I’ll call you”.
It’s a fair question, and it should send shudders down the spine of Mets fans, as well as all personnel connected to the Mets.
Does Steve Cohen Grasp What The Mets Need Him For?
As we tossed around yesterday, Steve Cohen is a solo pilot, and it remains to be seen how he will restructure the Mets organization.
Does Cohen, for example, fully grasp the notion that his number one priority with the Mets is to reclaim a stilted, dysfunctional, and chaotic culture from the disaster left behind in the wake of the Wilpons?
I don’t see how he could, because if he did, Cohen would then realize it’s going to take an ample amount of his time as a hands-on manager to get the project underway – before he can turn day to day operations over to his subordinates.
Above all else, the Mets organization needs continuity, new and forward-looking leadership, and a pile of money to attract top-notch free-agent and trade opportunities, as well as to rebuild their farm system.
If Steve Cohen follows his “big splash” business approach with the Mets, he will steal Mookie Betts away from the Dodgers and J.T. Realmuto from the Phillies with two prodigious and headline-making contracts – and think to himself – there you go, Mets fans!
And Mets fans will bang the drum as a great awakening from the days of those stingy Wilpons – while the remainder of the organization remains in a hovel of disgrace and dysfunction.
The Mets do not have Derek Jeter, the minority owner of 8% of the up and coming Miami Marlins, to toil in the ditches for them. They have Steve Cohen – that’s it.
Ideally and ruefully, Alex Rodriguez was ready to be the point man as a minority owner of the Mets. But as we know, money talks, and everybody walks to the beat of Steve Cohen, and that scenario is lost.
Steve Cohen: Prove Yourself As An Owner Worthy Of The Mets
You can feel my bias against Steve Cohen, can’t you? If you do, then I’ve done my job today.
All that glitters is not gold, and that’s precisely what I believe MLB is buying if the 29 team owners approve the sale of the Mets to Cohen.
And that’s without mentioning Steve Cohen’s brush with the law regarding insider trading, a charge his company was convicted of and forced to pay a fine with nine zeros.
Or, the more recent charges of varying degrees of integrity involving misogyny and discrimination claims brought against Cohen and his hedge fund company in three separate lawsuits that are headed to the courts.
We’ll see how it all unfolds, but this guy bears watching.
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
