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A group led by Kushner and former Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger last month struck a deal to purchase the team from finance mogul Mark Walter at a $12.5 billion valuation. In the presentation, the buyers laid out plans to expand the storied National Basketball Association franchise, including through international growth and new opportunities in local media rights. Those moves would help boost the Lakers’ valuation to at least $30 billion in a decade, the buyer group said, assuming that TV and streaming rights double in value. More favorable assumptions for the same period would place the long-term valuation at $62 billion.
Dan Woike: One note - per sources with knowledge of the Josh Kushner-Bob Iger plans, the Lakers are not planning a rapid price hike to increase ticket revenue. Team does, however, want to grab control of tickets controlled by outside brokerages and increase revenue by cutting out those brokers.
Media reports of Bob Iger’s future “ownership” of the Los Angeles Lakers appear to have been greatly exaggerated, On The Money has learned. Three weeks ago, a flurry of headlines from major outlets – the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the LA Times, you name it – reported that “Bob Iger and Josh Kushner,” in that order, will be buying the iconic NBA franchise. The natural implication would be that Iger is poised to own at least 50% of the team under terms of the $12.5 billion, blockbuster deal, which was cut with embattled Guggenheim Partners boss Mark Walter.
The deal is still under review by the NBA, but the fact is, it’s Kushner – the 41-year-old brother of President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared – who will be the lone controlling shareholder of the Lakers, sources close to the situation said. Under NBA rules that requires him to personally own at least 15% of the franchise, so Kushner himself will plunk down at least $1.875 billion to get the deal done.
Iger is indeed poised to become a major player with the Lakers when it comes to being a face of the team and an executive overseeing its operations – general manager, maybe. But he won’t be the “governor” in NBA parlance who makes the final decisions, a source close to the talks told me. “Bob will not be the control person,” one person close to Kushner told me. “It is expected that Bob will be a minority owner, an alternate governor, and lead the management of the team day-to-day, but not the governor of the team.”
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Danny Green on Lakers’ sale: You want owners that are in this league that care about the game and not just about making a buck or just the other stuff that doesn't really matter. Owners that actually want to be around, be at the games, and then care to build their teams and put money into the team… Jay Wagers: Instead of a corporation. Green: Yeah. Byron Scott: "Listen, it matters but it don't matter because we got no say so whatsoever. You know what I'm saying? But it matters because of the fact that when you play for the Lakers, like we have, and it's under the Buss family, that umbrella, you just never thought or never imagined it ever being owned by somebody else. So, I'm sure just like all three of us, the first sale to the Walters Group for 10 billion, we all were like, 'What?' They sold? And then my second thought was, 'Oh shit, 10 billion, okay, well I get it.' You know what I'm saying? But you still have that initial shock of them being sold because you just never fathomed the fact that the Buss family would not own the Lakers."
The pending changes — Iger and Kushner’s groups are in their “diligence” phase of the purchase — have certainly caused some anxiety for employees bracing for another ownership change. The last transition, from the longstanding familial touches of the Buss family to a more bottom-line-driven Walter regime, included multiple rounds of layoffs. Still, multiple sources in different departments expressed optimism about the direction of the franchise under Iger and Kushner. Some felt the Dodgers’ impact on the Lakers was pushing too hard toward analytics and doing so with an arrogance that turned off some people in basketball operations and the locker room. Those people weren’t upset to see a pathway for new management to come in, even if it’s a bit of a mystery and doesn’t have the track record of the Dodgers’ success.
Ramona Shelburne on Lakers: ‘I think the sale goes through this season. I think it happens probably by the end of this year.’
Ramona Shelburne: ‘The only matter is really whether Jeanie Buss can stay on as controlling owner, because her deal there was with Mark Walter. It was written in paperwork. It wasn't just a handshake agreement. I don't know what happens to that paperwork or how it was written and whether that will stand up to this sale.’
As the fight over what will happen to the Buss family's stake in the Los Angeles Lakers begins in the wake of Mark Walter's shocking sale of his majority ownership of the franchise to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner, one of the team's minority owners, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, has no plans to sell his part of the team. "Dr. Patrick is absolutely not selling his minority share of the Lakers," Chuck "Tiger" Kenworthy, the Soon-Shiong family attorney, told ESPN on Thursday. "Bob Iger and Josh Kushner are good friends, and we will be joining them as supportive, active and engaged partners once they close the transaction with Mr. Walter. We are extremely excited about the Lakers' future and look forward to many more championship years."
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Dr. Soon-Shiong, 74, bought into the team in 2010, purchasing a 4% stake from iconic Lakers star Magic Johnson. Known for his innovative cancer research and treatment, Dr. Soon-Shiong is also a successful businessman and surgeon, with a net worth north of $15 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
If the Buss siblings do sell their part of the team, leaving Jeanie with just under 3% ownership, she would need to acquire an additional 12% of the team in order to hold the requisite 15% to serve as acting governor under the NBA guidelines. Buss would be interested in doing so, The Athletic reported Wednesday, however that number could be difficult to reach without Iger and Kushner -- or some of her siblings -- selling her back a part of the team. With Dr. Soon-Shiong's 4% off the market, the only other minority owner Buss could target in that scenario would be Ed Roski Jr., who owns approximately 3% of the Lakers.
A source with knowledge of Mark Walter’s thinking told The Athletic that the current Lakers owner didn’t believe the latest Buss family disagreement would threaten his deal with Iger and Kushner, which values the Lakers at a record $12.5 billion. Two other league and team sources also said they don’t expect the conflict to impact the transaction that will push the Lakers into their next chapter. In that sense, who the Lakers’ majority owner will be when the 2026-27 season begins isn’t the pressing question at hand.
The drama might not stretch to the Lakers’ latest sale — the sale from Walter to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner seems like it’s still on track. A source with knowledge of Mark Walter’s thinking told The Athletic that the current Lakers owner didn’t believe the latest Buss family disagreement would threaten his deal with Iger and Kushner, which values the Lakers at a record $12.5 billion. Two other league and team sources also said they don’t expect the conflict to impact the transaction that will push the Lakers into their next chapter. In that sense, who the Lakers’ majority owner will be when the 2026-27 season begins isn’t the pressing question at hand.