The Buss family’s sale of the majority ownership of the Lakers to Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter is expected to close in the third or fourth quarter of this year.
In a Wednesday morning news release distributed by Business Wire, both sides confirmed that Jeanie Buss will remain governor of the franchise and continue to “oversee all team operations on a day-to-day basis for the foreseeable future.”
The sale of the Lakers from the Buss Family Trust to Walter came at a valuation of approximately $10 billion, making it the largest sale of a North American professional sports team all-time.
“The Buss family is deeply honored to have looked after this incredible organization for almost half a century,” Buss said in her first public statement since the sale was first reported by ESPN on June 18. “From the day our father purchased the Lakers, we have been determined to deliver what the City of Los Angeles deserves and demands: a team that is committed to winning – relentlessly – and to doing so with passion and with style.”
The Buss family has owned the Lakers since 1979, when the late Jerry Buss bought the franchise from Jack Kent Cooke for $67.5 million – a transaction that included the NHL’s Kings and the Forum in Inglewood. Buss sold the Kings to Bruce McNall in 1988.
The Buss family’s 46 years of Lakers’ ownership is the longest among current NBA franchises, with Herbert Simon’s ownership of the Indiana Pacers since 1983 being the second-longest.
After Jerry Buss died in 2013, Lakers’ ownership was passed to his children – Johnny, Jim, Jeanie, Janie, Joey and Jesse – via a family trust, with Jeanie serving as the franchise’s governor since. The family trust owned 66% of the franchise.
Since Jerry Buss’ death, the family has occasionally clashed over control, with Jeanie Buss removing her brother Jim from his position as executive vice president of basketball operations in 2017. Shortly after that, Jim and Johnny Buss attempted to rebuild the team’s board of directors without their sister, a takeover attempt that failed quickly.
Since 1980, the Lakers have won 11 championships, the most by any NBA team during that span. They have done it with some of the league’s most iconic players – Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James – leading the way. The Lakers reached the NBA Finals 16 times in the 34 seasons when Jerry Buss was leading the organization.
“The Lakers have long been one of the most iconic franchises in sports,” Walter said in his first public statement of the sale. “Since Dr. Jerry Buss first purchased the team in 1979, they have truly set the standard for basketball in one era after another, which is why you can find people anywhere in the world wearing Lakers shirts and jerseys.
“I admire what he, Jeanie and the Buss family have built, and I know how much this special organization matters to Southern Californians and to sports fans everywhere. I also have tremendous respect for Jeanie’s continued commitment to maintaining the Lakers’ long-term vision and elite status, and I’m excited to work with her on the next era.”
Walter has been a stakeholder in the Lakers since July 2021 when he and business partner Todd Boehly bought a 27% minority interest in the franchise from Philip Anschutz, the founder of Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), which owns and operates Crypto.com Arena, where the Lakers play their home games. Walter received a right of first refusal on the majority share of the Lakers when making the initial minority ownership purchase.
In addition to the Dodgers and Lakers, Walter also has ownership stakes in the WNBA’s Sparks, English Premier League soccer club Chelsea FC and the Cadillac Formula 1 team.
Since the Walter-led Guggenheim group bought the Dodgers, the franchise ended a 32-year title drought with its World Series victory in 2020. The Dodgers won their first full-season World Series since 1988 last fall, which was their second championship and fourth World Series appearance since 2017. They’ve had a winning record in all 13 seasons since the Walter-led group purchased the franchise.
“I have gotten to know Mark very well over time and been delighted to learn how he shares those same values,” Buss added in her statement. “For the last four years, Mark has been an excellent partner to us, and we are thrilled to keep working with him to continue the Lakers’ extraordinary legacy.”
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