After weeks of speculation and low-simmering tensions, New York City officially signed off on hedge-fund billionaire Steve Cohen becoming the new owner of the Mets.


“The New York City Law Department has completed its legal review of the proposed sale of the Mets," Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. "New York City does not object to the sale, and the Mets may proceed with the transaction.”

Cohen, 64, received the necessary 75 percent of the vote by MLB owners today as well, completing his $2.4 billion transaction with Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz to become the team’s majority owner. It's believed to be the highest price ever paid for a North American sports team, and Cohen, who is worth an estimated $14 billion, becomes the richest owner in the MLB.

The news comes after the NY Post reported that de Blasio had been searching for legal loopholes that would block Cohen from taking control of the team. De Blasio denied that report in several press conferences this week, and a spokesperson said the city was merely "doing their due diligence" examining a new lease on "incredibly valuable city-owned land."

Cohen had attracted negative attention after his former hedge fund, S.A.C Capital Advisors, pleaded guilty to insider trader charges and was fined $1.8 billion. Cohen was reprimanded by the SEC and received a two-year ban from managing outside money. His firm Point72 also faced a gender discrimination lawsuit from a female employee, which was settled out of court.

Wilpon first bought a stake in the team in 1980; by 2002, Wilpon and his brother-in-law Katz became the Mets’ sole owners. They had heavily invested in Bernie Madoff, which resulted in a trial over the fake profits they made from the Ponzi scheme. In 2012, when the owners began actively looking to sell off parts of the club, Cohen became a minority partner.

Almost a year ago, Cohen announced an agreement to purchase the team which fell apart; other people also made bids, including Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez, but Cohen ultimately won out. Under the new deal, he owns 95% of the club, while the Wilpons own a 5% stake, but have no say in the day-to-day operations. Cohen has already announced that he plans to hire former Mets GM Sandy Alderson as team president once he takes over.

“I am humbled that MLB’s owners have approved me to be the next owner of the New York Mets,” Cohen said in a statement. "Owning a team is a great privilege and an awesome responsibility. I would like to thank the owners and Commissioner Manfred and his team for welcoming me to Major League Baseball. And I want to thank Fred Wilpon for inviting me to buy into the franchise in 2012. Fred is one of the game’s true gentlemen and I consider it an honor to be the new owner of this iconic franchise. Most of all, I’d like to thank Mets fans for their unwavering support throughout this process. My family and I are lifelong Mets fans, so we’re really excited about this. With free agency starting Sunday night we will be working towards a quick close. Let’s go Mets!”

He added that all Mets employees, including unionized groundskeepers, security guards and engineers, will receive re-instituted pre-pandemic salaries as of November 1st, reversing the 5-30% salary cuts implemented in March. He also said he will donate $17.5M to the city for various small business programs.

So far, current and former Mets players seem happy with the deal, with star pitcher Noah Syndergaard offering the blistering quote below to the Post about the former owners.