The Buss family has decided to sell its remaining 17.8% stake in the Los Angeles Lakers to new majority owners Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, sources told ESPN on Monday.
Once the transaction is completed, Jeanie Buss will no longer have the needed ownership percentage to remain governor because NBA guidelines require controlling owners/governors to own at least 15% of a franchise. She has been the governor of the Lakers since 2013, taking over after her father, Jerry Buss, died.
"We have decided as a family to sell the remaining Buss Family Trust shares to the Bob Iger group as part of the ongoing transaction," the family said in a statement. "We love the Lakers, Laker fans and will continue to support Los Angeles; but it is time to use this opportunity to move on and exit gracefully while we still can."
The Buss trust -- composed of siblings Jeanie, Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse -- received majority votes to allow trustees to execute the sale. It required four of six votes to enact the tag-along provision of Mark Walter's sale to Kushner and Iger, which valued the Lakers at $12.5 billion.
Last June, the Buss family made the decision to sell to Walter at a valuation of $10 billion, a then-record for a U.S. professional sports franchise. Multiple Buss siblings, however, felt frustrated at Jeanie and misled by her over what they believe was a rushed sale, according to sources close to the process. Those siblings felt pressured to vote "yes."
Ultimately, all six siblings voted to go ahead with the sale, according to ESPN's Baxter Holmes. The sale closed in late October 2025, with the siblings each pocketing about a half billion dollars after taxes.
The agreement with Walter allowed Jeanie to remain governor of the franchise through 2030 -- she would have had four more seasons -- but the other siblings were terminated from their positions with the Lakers in the ensuing months.
Lakers senior VP of finance, Joe McCormack, called for an emergency meeting of the Buss siblings last Monday to discuss a dissolution of the family trust and seeking unanimous approval to lock down all family shares for four years under a new trust, sources told ESPN's Dave McMenamin.
The meeting was held Tuesday. During the meeting, there was no mention of a pending sale between Mark Walter and Bob Iger/Josh Kushner, sources told ESPN. The next day, Walter's agreement to sell the team was reported by ESPN's Ramona Shelburne.
"Jeanie told [her siblings] this sale to [Walter] was in the best interest of the long term, but it ended up being an embarrassing one, and it was time to move on cleanly," one person with knowledge of the process said.
Walter, the CEO and chair of diversified holding company TWG Global, ended up being the Lakers' majority owner for less than a year, as his bid was unanimously approved by the NBA last October. Walter, who built his financial empire in the insurance industry, is under federal investigations for alleged tax fraud by other companies tied to the billionaire.
Kushner and Iger are purchasing approximately 65% of the franchise in their deal with Walter. With the shares from the Buss family, their ownership stake will be roughly 83%.
The sale still will need approval from the NBA's board of governors, which could take time. The next board meeting is set for Sept. 15 and 16 in New York. Kushner also must sell his limited equity in the Miami Heat before the board approval process.
The Buss family had ownership of the Lakers since Jerry Buss purchased the team from Jack Kent Cooke in May 1979. Under the leadership of Buss and then his children after his death, the Lakers won 11 NBA championships -- most recently in 2020.
The Lakers' 2,289 wins since the start of the 1979-80 season are the most of any franchise in that span. More than a dozen different Hall of Famers played for the Lakers during the Buss family's ownership, and multiple Hall of Fame coaches patrolled the sidelines, first at the Great Western Forum, then at Crypto.com Arena (formerly the Staples Center), which opened in 1999.
