JAY Z - JAY-Z OFFICIALLY A PART-OWNER OF NEW JERSEY NETS

Hip-hop star JAY-Z is officially a part-owner of a basketball franchise, after bosses approved the sale of the NEW JERSEY NETS.

Today (12AUG04) the board of governors at America's NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION (NBA) unanimously agreed the sale of the team to an ownership group which includes the rapper.

In January (04), the consortium, led by developer BRUCE RATNER, had its $300 million (GBP166 million) offer accepted by the New Jersey Nets, but the sale still needed approval from the league.

Ratner plans to move the team's base from New Jersey to Jay-Z's native Brooklyn, New York, where he hopes to build a 19,000 seat arena in time for the 2006-2007 NBA season as part of a $2.5 billion (GBP1.3 billion) development project.

Jay-Z holds a minority interest in the team.