Is Jay Z Going Broke?

40/40 Club:
- Clubs in NYC, Atlantic City. The Las Vegas club, at 24,000 square feet, opened in the hotel-casino Palazzo in January 2008, with more than 80 plasma TVs. It closed eight months later when, after disappointing traffic, Jay-Z sold the lease back to the hotel. It was tuned into a race and sports book, with a specialty restaurant.

NJ Nets:
-Paid $4.5M in December 2004 for a minority stake in the team. Sale price of $300M means he owns 1.5%. Forbes valued the team at $269M this season, down 9% from the previous season. Operating deficit of 13.9M. In 2004, Team owner Bruce Ratner said he wanted to have team in Brooklyn for the 2006-07 season but 2012 looks more promising.

Gain Global Investments Networks:
-Company owns a 7 percent stake in the group that was chosen and then lost a deal to develop a Racino at Aqueduct Racetrack. Jay-Z owns a 28.6 percent stake in AEG.

NYC Real estate:

• 345 West 14th St.: part of a group that borrowed $30M to buy Meatpacking District building for development. Plans went south during recession. Sold loan for $19.5M.
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• 510 West 22nd St.: In August 2007, a company he controlled borrowed $52M to purchase the land in order to develop a luxury J Hotel. Walked away from the project and loan during the recession. Sued lender, Highland Capital, for “bleeding” him of interest payments.

The paper does say that Jay has made some good business deals, like his LiveNation Deal and his sale of Rocawear. While it’s publicly been stated that the two deals brought in $250 million a MediaTakeOut.com insider said that both deals COMBINED brought Jay Z approximately $40 million (still a very respectable number in this economy).