MOSCOW — Mikhail Prokhorov, the owner of the NBA’s New Jersey Nets who is running against Vladimir Putin in Russia’s presidential election, tried without success Wednesday to buy a leading media holding company in the country.
Prokhorov, right, worth about $18 billion, according to Forbes magazine, offered to buy Russia’s Kommersant publishing house. Owner Alisher Usmanov said he doesn’t plan to sell it.
“We’re not considering the proposal,” Usmanov said, adding that he instead offered to buy Prokhorov’s stake in the rival RBK media group.
On Tuesday, Usmanov fired an editor and a senior manager after the Kommersant Vlast weekly published an article about alleged fraud in Russia’s Dec. 4 parliamentary election and a photo of a ballot containing vulgar words directed at Putin. The weekly’s editor, Maxim Kovalsky, said he was told that’s why he was fired. The Associated Press; AP file photo
