20120806-NEWS--0001-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 8/3/2012 7:08 PM Page 1 THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS Inside the 2014 Super The List: Spongetech Bowl: It’s NY-area stadium crunch pro sports scam time teams P. 11 P. 11 P. 13 CRAIN’S® NEW YORK BUSINESS VOL. XXVIII, NO. 32 WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM AUGUST 6-12, 2012 PRICE: $3.00 Surge in shipping has New York hot on L.A.’s heels Fueled by Chinese imports, metro area’s port traffic approaches West Coast levels ness reported. Chinese imports BY ANDREW J. HAWKINS grew at a faster rate for New York than for L.A., accounting for much The New York metropolitan of the discrepancy. area is within “striking distance” of “It is not inconceivable that overtaking Los Angeles as the New York could surpass Los largest trade region in the Angeles as the largest trade nation, according to a area in the country,” wrote new report. 18% Eugene Spruck, a Weissman New York is the na- INCREASE IN Center fellow and former TRADE last tion’s third-busiest port, year for N.Y., chief economist for the Port right behind L.A. and the No. 3 port Authority of New York and neighboring Long in the nation New Jersey. Beach. But the region is behind L.A., The Port Authority’s own Long Beach growing at a faster pace numbers back up that opti- than its West Coast rivals.Two-way mism. June in particular was a good trade through New York’s seaports month for the region, as the and airports increased by 18% in 276,225 container “lifts”—the 2011 over the prior year, to $418.3 number of times a crane lifted a billion, while L.A.’s traffic grew by container off a ship—made it the 12%, the Baruch College’s Weiss- second-best June on record. Rail man Center for International Busi- See NY PORTS on Page 32 Battle of the HELLO, BROOKLYN: Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov (with, bazillionaires clockwise from top right, rap icon Jay-Z, borough booster Marty Ron Perelman Markowitz, arena developer Bruce In a Hummer of a legal fight, Ratner and player Deron Williams) has doubled the value of a team he Ron Perelman, Ira Rennert bought only two years ago. trade some nasty accusations BY AARON ELSTEIN Ron Perelman and Ira Rennert have a lot in com- mon. Both have amassed huge fortunes, thanks to newscom Nuts for theNets their knack for buying out-of-favor companies, ex- Ira Rennert tracting big sums and then selling the holdings for even more. The 69-year-old Mr. Perelman is worth How a freewheeling Russian magnate turned $12 billion, according to Forbes, making him the fifth-wealthiest New Yorker,and his house is understood to be the largest in East Hampton.The the NBA’s doormat into its hottest property 78-year-old Mr. Rennert weighs in at $5.4 billion, and his estate, a few miles from Mr. Perelman’s, is thought to be the largest private residence in the nation. Both men are also members of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue, BY DANIEL MASSEY where Mr. Rennert is honorary chairman. See BATTLE on Page 30 In February, the owner of the Brooklyn Nets, Mikhail Prokhorov, appeared on a Russian television comedy show called Spotlight Paris Hilton, and offered a musical tribute to his co-owner, hip-hop star Jay-Z. “Mr.Jay-Z,this rap is for you,”went the English portion of the lyrics.“Mr.Jay-Z,this is the first presentation/of real rap music from Russian Federation. Mr. Jay-Z, you are not alone/Mikhail Prokhorov on the microphone.” According to Mr. Prokhorov, a reprise is in the works, but this time in downtown Brooklyn, where Jay-Z will open the $1 billion Barclays Center with a series of sold-out concerts this fall. “Yes, I will rap at his concert,” Mr. ELECTRONIC EDITION Prokhorov informed Crain’s via email. “I am in rehearsals now 10 hours a day and plan to demand joint billing.” The metal magnate with a sense of humor and the rap mogul from Brooklyn are an unlikely pairing.One served in the Soviet military, joined the Communist Party, became a businessman See NUTS on Page 12 NEWSPAPER 20120806-NEWS--0002-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 8/3/2012 7:00 PM Page 1 STATS AND THE CITY THE SIZE OF THE COMBINED FOOTPRINT of media and communications companies in Manhattan jumped past the amount of office space leased to legal firms in July. Media and communications tenants now trail only the financial sector, the longtime top dog, which FYICRAINSNEWYORK.COM occupies twice as big a slice of the city. Percentage of total Manhattan commercial space leased to various sectors for offices of 5,000 square feet and up Your basic Knightmare Communications/ Financial media 13% services 26% dd one more gruesome self- inflicted wound to the financial sector’s growing litany of them. Legal A A software glitch last week at New services 12% Jersey-based Knight Capital Group,a major stock-trading firm, sent shares in newscom Other Apparel/ a number of companies gyrating in a 11% manufacturing 7% torrent of nonsensical, automated buy-and-sell orders.The screwup could cost Knight $440 million. Already CEO Thomas Joyce is frantically seeking a buyer to rescue his stricken firm. Government 6% Tech/ By the way, only a few months ago he was blasting Nasdaq for manhandling Facebook’s IPO. telecom Speaking of complaining, 11-branch Berkshire Bank became the mouse that roared in the 3% Nonprofits 5% Business LIBOR scandal by filing a purported class-action suit against 16 big banks for manipulating the services 4% Health/ Retail insurance London interbank offered rate. Berkshire says the fraud cheated the bank out of income by Advertising/ 4% PR 4% 5% artificially depressing interest rates. Expect many, many more of these suits. Source: Jones Lang LaSalle Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Royal Bank of Scotland is negotiating a settlement with regulators investigating the LIBOR mess. What settlement it may ultimately RUNNING NUMBERS have to reach with the likes of Berkshire Bank may take years to sort out. Wall Street did catch one dubious break when the U.S. government failed—again—to 173K 2:19:59 1 79% convict a Wall Streeter charged with wrongdoing leading up to the financial crisis. A former MILES NYC WORLD RECORD RANK of JFK RISE in financial- subway cars travel set by N.J. native among U.S. sector job cuts Citigroup Inc. employee named Brian Stoker had been charged with failing to tell investors that on average Rebecca Soni in airports for its through July vs. a between the 200m potential to year earlier his bank was betting against a $1 billion package of mortgage-backed bonds it sold in 2007. A breakdowns breaststroke spread diseases Source: Challenger jury cleared Mr. Stoker but urged the feds to keep trying to bring bankers to justice. And no Source: NYPIRG Source: International Source: MIT Gray & Christmas Straphangers Olympic Committee Inc. doubt they will. —aaron elstein Campaign BLOOMBERG’S TARGET. Gunfire that that). Question is, is this first-of- ADDICTED TO NUMBERS? GET A DAILY DOSE AT @STATSANDTHECITY injured six more innocent New its-kind-in-the-nation effort a HOORAY! Yorkers late last month moved good idea, especially given Wall COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY will spend Mayor Bloomberg to take another Street’s own crime wave (see $80 million to build an Institute for swing at illegal guns on the street. above)? ... PFIZER PFINDS A WAY. De- Data Sciences and Engineering. NYC THIS WEEK IN CRAIN’S will kick in another $15 million. “We are worried about the increase spite generic versions of its best- in shootings,” said the mayor, who selling cholesterol-lowering drug IN THE BOROUGHS-------------------------- 3 nonetheless noted that “the good Lipitor flooding the market,mighty IN THE MARKETS----------------------------------4 news is we’re still on a record for a Pfizer Inc. still managed a surpris- low murder rate.” The problem is ing 25% jump in profit in the second THE INSIDER -----------------------------------------------6 that far too many people are still be- quarter. True, much of the gains BUSINESS PEOPLE ---------------------------7 ing hurt,if not killed,in shooting in- flowed from a hefty dose of cost- OPINION-------------------------------------------------------------8 cidents that are up 10% year-over- cutting,but management has shown year. ... STICK A FORK IN IT. Unable to it can do more than survive. ... OY VEY! GREG DAVID ------------------------------------------------9 DAFFY’S SILVER LINING. repay a $350,000 loan, restaurateur JEMB Real- BRONX-BORN star gymnast John Orozco FROM AROUND THE CITY----10 Nino Selimaj, owner of and TV ty Corp.is buying Daffy’s Inc.out of stumbled in competition, and his team pitchman for a half-dozen Italian bankruptcy. The news came a day fell to a fifth-place Olympic finish. REPORT: BUSINESS eateries, filed for Chapter 11 bank- after the discount retailer filed for OF SPORTS ------------------------------------------11 ruptcy protection. The filing covers protection from creditors, due in him personally as well as his restau- part to pressure from online retail CLASSIFIEDS -----------------------------------------28 rants Nino’s, Nino’s Bellissima Piz- competition. What remains to be SMALL BUSINESS--------------------------31 za, Nino’s Positano, Nino’s Tuscany seen is whether JEMB sees any val- NEW YORK, NEW YORK Steakhouse, Osso Buco and ue in the Secaucus, N.J.-based 19- REAL ESTATE DEALS------------------- Talk about your early 31 Scarpina Bar & Grill.Happily,New unit chain beyond its real estate. A adopters: iPads, Kindles and HELLUVA TOWN----------------------------------33 Yorkers still have plenty of Italian JEMB affiliate will reportedly buy other e-readers are becoming restaurants to choose from.