Last week, Mikhail Prokhorov told NetsDaily, "I do not anticipate that my decision to take part in Russia's political process will affect the Nets in any way." Then, on Thursday, he shocked the Russian press by saying if his "Right Cause" party gets 7% of the vote in December and enters the Duma, Russia's parliament, "I will go work in the Duma, I won’t do in business, I’ll just spend 24 hours working in the Duma."
What does it mean for the Nets? Not much. First of all, the latest polls show "Right Cause" with around one percent of the votes, so it's going to take some doing between now and December. While Prokhorov is high profile as Nets principal owner, his management of the team is more "big picture", with people like Christophe Charlier, Brett Yormark, Irina Pavlova and Billy King managing day-to-day operations . In other (Russian) businesses, his role is more hand's-on and if there's a change, it's more likely to happen there. Note he didn't say he'd sell his businesses. That's not happening.
- Prokhorov’s Predictions - Julia Ioffe - Forbes
- Prokhorov 'to Quit Business' - Moscow Times
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Russian tycoon chooses politics - Voice of Russia