Jeanie contesting family's sale of stake in Lakers
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- Jeanie Buss is contesting her five siblings' vote to sell the family's remaining 17.8% Lakers stake to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger at the same $12.5 billion valuation Mark Walter agreed to last week.
- Jeanie Buss' lawyer Adam Streisand wrote that a 2017 court ruling requires co-trustees Jeanie, Janie, and Joey Buss to approve any sale and to maintain the minimum 15% ownership that keeps Jeanie as Controlling Owner through 2030.
- Streisand warned the five voting siblings that any sale action would constitute 'breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty and be in contempt of court,' and demanded they publicly affirm Jeanie as Controlling Owner.
- Bob Iger told the California Post he intended to honor the agreement keeping Jeanie Buss as controlling owner through 2030, but added 'if something changes, then it changes.'
- Jeanie Buss was the lone sibling who did not vote to sell and did not respond to the vote, sources told ESPN; if the 17.8% sale goes through, she would lose the ownership percentage needed to remain team governor.
- The Buss family has owned the Lakers since Jerry Buss purchased the team from Jack Kent Cooke in May 1979, winning 11 NBA championships under the family's ownership.
Why it matters: If Jeanie Buss's legal challenge succeeds, the $12.5 billion Kushner-Iger acquisition of the remaining Buss family stake cannot proceed and Jeanie retains controlling ownership through 2030; if it fails, the Lakers pass to new majority hands under terms Iger himself hedged by saying 'if something changes, then it changes.'
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