Lakers sale to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger values team at record $12.5 billion
The agreement marks the largest valuation ever placed on a North American sports franchise and hands control to two of the buyers who lost out on the team a year earlier.
The Los Angeles Lakers are being sold in a deal that values the franchise at a record $12.5 billion, according to terms confirmed this week, marking the highest price ever placed on a professional sports team in North America.
The buying group is led by venture capitalist Josh Kushner, founder of Thrive Capital, alongside Bob Iger, the former longtime chief executive of Disney. The seller is Mark Walter, chief executive of TWG Global and controlling owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who had taken control of the Lakers just over a year earlier in a deal that valued the team at roughly $10 billion.
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That earlier transaction effectively ended the Buss family's decades-long ownership of the franchise, though Jeanie Buss is expected to remain the team's governor for at least five years under continuity terms attached to the sale, preserving her public role in overseeing basketball operations.
The new deal still requires approval from the NBA's Board of Governors, a process that typically takes several weeks as the league reviews buyer financing and ownership structure. Neither the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks nor the Dodgers are included in the transaction, which is limited to the Lakers franchise itself.
The jump in valuation over such a short period underscores how aggressively sports franchise prices have climbed in recent years, driven by lucrative media rights deals, rising interest from private equity and wealthy individual investors, and the scarcity of marquee teams that ever come up for sale. Sports business analysts said the price also reflects the Lakers' particular standing as one of the most recognizable brands in global sports.
Kushner and Iger have not detailed plans for the franchise's day-to-day operations, though people familiar with the deal said continuity in the front office and coaching staff is expected in the near term as the ownership transition is finalized.