Billionaire restaurateur buys Houston Rockets

HOUSTON, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- A billionaire in Houston in the southern U.S. state of Texas on Friday officially became the owner of the Houston Rockets, a professional basketball team, after he was unanimously approved by the NBA Board of Governors.

Tilman Fertitta, the boss of a Houston-based restaurant empire as well as a television personality, became the 10th primary owner of the franchise. For the first time in nearly 25 years, the Rockets are under a new management.

Fertitta, 60, paid a record 2.2 billion U.S. dollars for the team and control of operating rights to Toyota Center, home to the Houston Rockets. He called the ownership "a life-long dream come true."

Fertitta is chairman and CEO of Landry's, Inc., a hospitality and entertainment corporation. He is also chairman of the University of Houston Board of Regents, the governing body of the university.

The 2.2 billion-dollar price breaks the record 2 billion-dollar NBA deal when the Los Angeles Clippers, another professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California, was sold to Steve Ballmer, a former Microsoft chief executive.