Cohen in negotiations to increase stake in Mets

NEW YORK -- Sterling Partners, the Fred and Jeff Wilpon-led ownership group with a controlling stake in the Mets, is negotiating an agreement to increase billionaire Steve Cohen’s investment in the team, the parties announced Wednesday in a joint statement.

As part of the agreement, Fred Wilpon would remain the Mets’ CEO and control person, and Jeff Wilpon would remain their COO, for the next five years.

• Mets statement on ownership negotiations

Cohen will remain CEO and president of Point72 Asset Management, while his family office, Cohen Private Ventures, will continue to manage his Mets interests. Cohen, who made a bid to buy the Dodgers earlier this decade, purchased a 4 percent stake in the Mets around that same time.

A successful Brooklyn-born businessman, Fred Wilpon and his brother-in-law, Saul Katz, purchased their first stake in the Mets in 1980, then became 50-50 partners with former majority owner Nelson Doubleday in 1986. Wilpon, who was team president at that time, served in that role until becoming majority owner of the Mets in 2002. His ownership group retained 50-50 ownership until 2002, when it bought out Doubleday’s holdings to make Wilpon majority owner and control person. Katz became team president at that time, while Jeff Wilpon became COO.

In recent years, Jeff Wilpon has played a large role in baseball operations. Fred Wilpon has retained significant influence on major decisions, while playing less of a role in day-to-day operations.

Under the Wilpons’ ownership, the Mets won the World Series in 1986 and the NL pennant in 2000 and '15.