In a stunning development, former Disney chief executive Bob Iger and American investor Josh Kushner are reportedly buying one of the most prestigious assets in American sports: the Los Angeles Lakers.
Iger and Kushner, the latter being the brother of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, are paying a record $12.5 billion for the basketball team, according to a source familiar with the matter who spoke to CNN.
The transaction comes less than a year after the NBA approved billionaire Mark Walter as the Lakers’ controlling owner.
Iger and Kushner confirmed the deal, first reported by ESPN, in a statement on Wednesday.
“As lifelong NBA fans, we are deeply honored by the opportunity to become stewards of the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most iconic sports franchises in the world,” Iger and Kushner said.
“Our long-term commitment is to build on that foundation, compete at the highest level and serve this extraordinary team, its fans and the city of Los Angeles,” they added.
The deal still requires approval from the NBA Board of Governors before it can be finalized.
With 17 championships, the Lakers are one of the most successful teams in basketball history. Their most recent title came in the 2019–20 season.
Mark Walter, whose company Guggenheim Investments owns the Los Angeles Dodgers, acquired a controlling stake in the Lakers in a deal announced just over a year ago.
That deal valued the team at $10 billion, although Walter did not acquire 100% ownership. He has been running the team since October of last year.
The rapid resale of the team, however, represents a stunning turn of events in a sports business where major franchises typically remain under the same ownership for decades.
“Nobody sells a premier sports franchise in less than a year. I have never seen anything like this,” a banker involved in sports transactions told CNN.
The sale comes as Walter’s financial business faces legal troubles.
At the end of last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that an internal whistleblower complaint concerning Walter’s Guggenheim Investments had triggered a federal investigation.
