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Prokhorov (now worth $10.9B) credited as among the "100 Most Influential People in Brooklyn Culture"

Brooklyn Magazine, in its 100 Most Influential People in Brooklyn Culture, chooses "Mikhail Prokorov [sic] of Barclays Center":
Say what you will about Prokhorov, but the Russian ex-pat and Nets owner has dramatically changed Brooklyn culture following the move of his basketball team to the Barclays Center. We don’t mean that the addition of a professional sports team has changed the face of Brooklyn so much (although it is nice to have a home team again, isn’t it?), rather that, in the Barclays Center, Brooklyn now has a performance arena to rival any in Manhattan. Suddenly, big musical acts are coming to Flatbush Avenue and bypassing Madison Square Garden entirely. And, sure, we wouldn’t call the MTV VMAs high culture exactly, but it was pretty cool that the most-talked about VMAs in years (thanks, Miley) took place right here in BK.
It's a curious choice, because it was Bruce Ratner, of course, who built the arena and whose firm remains majority owner of the arena's operating company. (Ratner bought the Nets before selling a majority stake to Prokhorov and chaired the board of the Brooklyn Academy of Music for a decade.)

And, Prokhorov is not actually an expat. But the opportunity to attend events at the Barclays Center erases any taint or history, apparently.

In Forbes

From Forbes
Forbes Magazine's list of Billionaires drops Prokhorov from #69 in 2013 to #109 this year (and #11 in Russia), crediting him with $10.9 billion, a sum that has fluctuated from a 2008 peak of 419.5 billion:
Mikhail Prokhorov has been, by turns, banker, athlete, metals mogul, playboy, investor, media player, politician, NBA owner (the Brooklyn Nets) and now, again, politician. He rocked Russia when he jumped into its 2012 presidential race against strongman Vladimir Putin. No one expected him to win but he managed to get 8% of the vote, even though he ran an unexceptional campaign. (He did, however, rap on TV, perhaps suggesting that some of his friendship with Jay-Z is rubbing off). While the 6-foot-8-inch bachelor and martial arts enthusiast moved the Nets to a new arena in Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards, and often jets in to watch a game, he has no plans to settle in the U.S. He insists that his serious interest is Russian politics, and he has created a new party, the Civic Platform, that he intends to expand until it's strong enough to go head-to-head with Putin's United Russia. He has the money to see it through. In late February 2013 he sold his 37.8% share of Polyus Gold International Ltd. for $3.6 billion. He's still in acquisition mode. In December 2013 he bought a 27% stake in Uralkali, the world's biggest producer of potassium fertilizers, from billionaire Suleiman Kerimov and other shareholders.
Actually, he doesn't often jet in to watch a game. As for his source of wealth, surely "investments" can be credited, but "self-made" deserves a wee small asterisk.

Comments

  1. The list as a whole wasn't particularly well written or well researched. They ranked certain people who had only been in business in Brooklyn for year. As for Prokhorov's net worth, if it has fallen that much in six years, he's hiding it.

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