NY Mets Proprietor Acquires a $50B Share in Vegas Globe Structure
In case you've been living under a rock, Steve Cohen isn't just into swinging a bat for baseball; he's also showed interest in the Las Vegas Sphere, as reported by Sportico. Seems like the owner of the New York Mets just shelled out some serious dough for a 5.5% stake in the spherical concert venue.
Cohen dropped a cool $1.56 billion on Sphere Entertainment, a company behind the dome-shaped entertainment venue that was built for an eye-watering $2.3 billion, majority-owned by James Dolan and opened last September.
His investment was revealed through a Schedule 13G filing, which is mandatory for investment firms with more than 5% ownership in a company’s total stock. No word on how much Cohen shelled out for his stake, but with the current market value, it's worth a whopping $52 billion.
Sphere Fishing, But for Dollars
Cohen acquired the investment during the second quarter of this year through his Point72 Asset Management hedge fund. This isn't the first time Cohen's crew has invested in the Sphere—last year, Point72 owned 262,102 shares. They later sold them in the first quarter of 2024.
This cash injection is pretty timely, as negotiations for the Sphere's residencies with high-profile acts like Beyonce, Harry Styles, Lady Gaga, and the Eagles are underway. You read that right, The Eagles just announced a 12-date residency this fall.
The Eagles will be the third residency after Dead & Company performing 24 shows and U2 with 40. It's speculated that U2's generous deal—rumored to include 90% of ticket sales and an additional $10M for a dedicated video production—sabotaged the Sphere's profit margin, not just at the time, but to this day, because other A-listers expect identical terms.
Luckily for the Sphere, most of its revenue comes from movie screenings, not concerts. Reports suggest that "Postcards from Earth" generated more than $1 million in daily ticket sales, raking in a hefty $100.5 million in revenue over 257 performances in the latest quarter.
Two more Sphere films apparently are in the works—one focusing on U2, the other a fresh take on "The Wizard of Oz."
Dolan and his kin still own a controlling share (6.9 million) in Sphere Entertainment. But Cohen, being the shark that he is, usually doesn't dip his toes in unless he's aiming to eventually take charge.
He made his first move with the Mets back in 2012, when he got an 8% stake in exchange for $40 million. Then, in 2020, he upped his investment to an impressive 92%, for a staggering $2.4 billion—one of the biggest transactions in pro sports history.
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