Joshua Kushner, left, founding father of Thrive Capital, and former Disney CEO Bob Iger in the course of the Allen & Co. Media and Expertise Convention in Solar Valley, Idaho, July 10, 2026.
Getty Photographs (L) | CNBC (R)
The Los Angeles Lakers have bought — once more.
Lower than a 12 months after shopping for a controlling possession stake within the NBA’s Lakers, Mark Walter has bought his majority fairness to Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger, in keeping with a press release.
The deal values the staff at $12.5 billion, in keeping with an individual aware of the matter, who requested to not be named as a result of they weren’t approved to talk publicly concerning the phrases of the sale.
“As lifelong NBA followers, we’re deeply honored for the chance to grow to be stewards of the Los Angeles Lakers, some of the iconic sports activities franchises on the earth,” Iger and Kushner mentioned in a joint assertion Wednesday. “We have now immense respect for the management and imaginative and prescient of Jerry and Jeanie Buss. Our long-term dedication is to construct on that basis, compete on the highest degree, and serve this extraordinary staff, its followers, and town of Los Angeles.”
Kushner and Iger have been enterprise companions earlier than. Iger joined Thrive Capital, the enterprise capital agency run and based by Kushner, earlier this 12 months. Iger, 75, stepped down as CEO of Disney earlier this 12 months after two stints that totaled roughly 20 years on the helm of the media large.
Kushner is the brother of Jared Kushner, who’s married to President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka. Kushner and Iger had beforehand expressed curiosity in shopping for an NBA growth staff in Las Vegas.
Walter acquired the Lakers in October at a valuation of $10 billion.
Final month, Bloomberg reported the Securities and Trade Fee and U.S. prosecutors have been investigating potential monetary improprieties at two of Walter’s insurance coverage corporations and at Guggenheim Companions, the sprawling monetary agency that Walter co-founded and nonetheless leads.
Walter’s TWG International holding firm controls the insurers, his stake in Guggenheim and possession stakes in different sports activities groups together with MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers and the English Premier League soccer staff Chelsea.
Walter can be amongst a gaggle of buyers that owns the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks.
The sale introduced Wednesday solely consists of his stake within the Lakers, in keeping with the individual aware of the matter.
The Wall Avenue Journal reported final month that Walter, 66, suffered a stroke in 2024 and that his well being standing has “grow to be a matter of concern inside his enterprise empire, with various opinions on whether or not lingering results from the stroke have impacted his health to steer his companies.”
Iger and his spouse, Willow Bay, acquired skilled ladies’s soccer staff Angel Metropolis Soccer Membership for $250 million in 2024.