Luka Dončić, Bob Iger, Josh Kushner and Austin Reaves (Getty)
They shoot, they score.
Venture capitalist Josh Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger are teaming up to buy the Los Angeles Lakers, ESPN reported. The duo is acquiring the basketball team for a record-breaking price of $12.5 billion.
Kushner and Iger made the offer to buy the Lakers from TWG Global CEO Mark Walter, who became an owner last year after buying a controlling interest from the Buss family. That deal was also a record at the time, valuing the franchise at roughly $10 billion.
Walter isn’t leaving the sports world entirely. The businessman, along with TWG Global, have interests in a handful of professional sports organizations, including the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Sparks. The deal only includes the Lakers, who do not own Crypto.com, gheor home arena.
Walter is currently under federal investigation for alleged tax fraud by other companies affiliated with him, the Los Angeles Times reported. Prosecutors are currently checking whether the Walter-controlled Delaware Life Insurance Company and Clear Spring Life and Annuity Company failed to disclose that their private credit holdings backed other Walter-helmed ventures. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is conducting its own separate investigation into the matter.
The NBA’s board of governors will still need to approve the sale of the Lakers, a process that could take several weeks. The board’s next meeting is in New York next month.
A transaction would grow both Kushner and Iger’s sports world holdings.
Iger became the controlling owner of Los Angeles’ National Women’s Soccer League team, Angel City FC, in 2024 along with Willow Bay.
Kushner is the brother of real estate developer and U.S. Special Envoy for Peace Jared Kushner, and son of longtime developer and investor Charles Kushner, currently U. S. Ambassador to France.
Josh Kushner currently holds a minority stake in the Miami Heat basketball franchise and is linked to possible private equity ventures involving FIFA’s commercial operations — a potential partnership that drew backlash in the wake of the World Cup.
— Chris Malone Méndez