Bob Iger and Josh Kushner’s acquisition of Mark Walter’s majority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers, at a team valuation of $12.5 billion, seems likely to proceed, but a piece of the equation is in doubt.
Five of the six Buss siblings – Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse – have voted to sell the family trust’s remaining 17.8 percent stake to Iger and Kushner, at the same valuation, through a tag-along right from Walter’s original 2025 sale. Jeanie Buss, the team’s governor, has not so voted.
Through her lawyer, Adam Streisand, she is contesting the vote’s very validity, according to a letter from her lawyer obtained by ESPN. A 2017 court order, she argues, requires unanimous sign-off from all three co-trustees – Jeanie, Janie and Joey – before any sale can be “effectuated.”
NBA rules reportedly require a team governor to hold a stake of at least 15 percent, and the family sale would drop hers below the threshold. Her lawyer says also that, per the aforementioned court order, Jeanie Buss must remain controlling owner absent further modification of the trust. He is accusing two siblings of leaking false information to the press.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Buss’s blocking of the family sale, should it occur, wouldn’t affect Walter’s sale to Iger and Kushner, which needs approval only from Walter and the NBA. What remains unknown is how much of the Lakers Iger and Kushner will end up controlling: roughly 65 percent or, with the Buss stake, around 83 percent. Axios reports that the buyers could plug the gap by paying another $2.2 billion or so.
It is unclear what Walter originally offered Buss. Iger has reportedly told the California Post that the plan was for Buss to remain governor (CBS Sports). According to the Hollywood Reporter, Walter’s 2025 agreement bound him to keep her as governor for five years only, with an option to buy out the family stake at the period’s end.
