American businessman Josh Kushner and former Disney govt Bob Iger are buying the Los Angeles Lakers for a record-breaking worth of US$12.5 billion, ESPN reported on Wednesday (Aug 12).
Per the community, the duo bought controlling curiosity from Mark Walter, who purchased a controlling curiosity within the staff from the Buss household for US$10 billion in October 2025. The NBA Board of Governors unanimously authorised the sale of the bulk curiosity to Walter on Oct 30.
“As lifelong NBA followers, we’re deeply honoured for the chance to grow to be stewards of the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the iconic sports activities franchises on the earth. We’ve got immense respect for the management and imaginative and prescient of Jerry and Jeanie Buss,” Kushner and Iger mentioned in an announcement. “Our long-term dedication is to construct on that basis, compete on the highest degree, and serve this extraordinary staff, its followers, and town of Los Angeles.”
Walter is the CEO and chairman of diversified holding firm TWG World. The group can be concerned with Premier League membership Chelsea and the Skilled Girls’s Hockey League.
“Proudly owning the Los Angeles Lakers has been one of many nice honours of my life – a unprecedented funding, however what I’ll carry with me is the neighborhood, the followers, and a metropolis that treats this staff as household,” Walter mentioned in an announcement to ESPN.
“I’m grateful to Jeanie Buss, the Buss household, the gamers, and the employees for welcoming me into this chapter. The Lakers belong to Los Angeles, and I’ve each confidence the very best continues to be forward.”
Kushner and Iger reportedly had been concerned in an growth course of to land an NBA staff in Las Vegas earlier than switching gears towards buying the Lakers.
Kushner is the youthful brother of Jared Kushner, who’s President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.
The information comes weeks after Kushner turned a key determine in a personal fairness fracas that has engulfed international soccer governing physique FIFA, because it introduced plans final month to create a subsidiary to run the World Cup.
FIFA had deliberate to promote minority stakes at an fairness valuation of US$20 billion to Kushner’s Thrive Capital, in a transfer that sparked widespread outrage and imperilled FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
Jerry Buss, who died in 2013, initially bought the Lakers for US$67.5 million in a deal that included The Discussion board in Inglewood, California, and the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings.
Based in 1947, the Lakers have made 32 journeys to the NBA Finals and gained 17 championships, second solely to the Boston Celtics with 18.
