Buss Family Sells Final Lakers Stake to Kushner and Iger
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- Buss family trust is selling its remaining 17.8% stake in the Los Angeles Lakers to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger at a $12.5 billion franchise valuation, a transaction worth approximately $2.25 billion that ends nearly five decades of family ownership dating to Dr. Jerry Buss's May 1979 purchase.
- Jeanie Buss's governorship is now in jeopardy: NBA rules require a team governor to own at least 15% of the franchise, and with the family trust dropping below that threshold, either Iger or Kushner will assume the role—hours after the control purchase, Iger told The California Post that "if things change, they'll change."
- The NBA had guaranteed Jeanie Buss a five-year gubernatorial term when Mark Walter bought majority control last summer, but the family's exit likely short-circuits that commitment and ends her operational control of the franchise.
- Five of Jeanie's siblings—including Joey and Jesse Buss, who had held prominent roles in Lakers basketball operations before being fired after the Walter sale—executed the family trust's tag-along clause to sell their shares, per ESPN reporter Yaron Weitzman.
- Kushner and Iger purchased control of the Lakers from Walter just last week, meaning Walter—who had spent the prior 14 months integrating the Lakers with his Los Angeles Dodgers franchise—is already out as the team's principal owner.
Why it matters: The Buss family's 17.8% sale likely ends Jeanie Buss's governorship—NBA rules require 15% team ownership for the role, and the $2.25 billion from the trust goes to the five siblings who sided against her. She's now losing both the family legacy and the five-year operational role the NBA had guaranteed her.
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