Jay-Z Sells Nets: Who Will Roc Nation Sign Next?

Jay-Z is selling his stake of the Brooklyn Nets, reported Yahoo Sports. The move was necessary in order to become certified as an agent from the NBA, which is said to be the next of the rapper and entertainment mogul's ventures. NBA rules stipulate that no individual affiliated with a player representation company can have an ownership stake in an NBA team.

Now that Jay-Z is divesting his share of ownership, it's expected that the next man on board will be a basketball star, and probably a player selected in the June NBA draft -- the process of divestment is expected to be completed just in time.

Yankees baseball star Robinson Cano recently elected to be represented by Roc Nation, Jay-Z's entertainment and sports agency, after Cano dumped former agent Scott Boras. Roc Nation is partnered with Creative Artists Agency (CAA), an already-established group which represents NBA stars like Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and Tony Parker. Jay-Z's agency deals exclusively with marketing, while CAA handles contract negotiations and day-to-day business with athletes.

Victor Cruz, a football player with the New York Giants, a recently signee of CAA, will also reportedly be represented by Roc Nation's marketing team.

The Daily News wrote that Jay-Z's partnership with a sports agency will not force him to sell his share of the Barclay Center, raising the question of how many of Jay-Z's Nets-related investments he stands to lose by divesting. An August 2012 article by the New York Times, which Jay-Z declined to be interviewed for, detailed some of the potentially lucrative holdings in the arena itself. According to the Times article, Jay-Z enjoys free use of one of 11 exclusive "Vault" suites, where suite owners have access to a Champagne bar serving Armand de Brignac, a company in which he holds a financial interest; there is a 40/40 Club and a Rocawear store in the arena, both companies he owns; the advertising agency used by the Nets is partly his. It appears that these holdings may remain in his possession.

Jay-Z's $1 million investment in 2003 amounts to just 1/15^th of 1 percent of the franchise after Russian billionaire Mikhail D. Prokhorov bought 80 percent of the team in 2009. But the rapper, who grew up in a public housing unit only a few miles away from the Barclay Center, has held out-sized influence since the Nets moved to Brooklyn, with a hand in everything from the team logos and uniforms to the promotion of the franchise's arrival to the city. On the nights leading up to their first game in Brooklyn, Jay-Z performed eight sold-out shows in the Barclay Center.

In 2010, he and Prokhorov were featured prominently in a billboard above Madison Square Garden which called the partnership "The Blueprint for Greatness."