{"id":431081,"date":"2026-08-12T21:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T21:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/431081\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T21:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T21:34:14","slug":"josh-kushner-bob-iger-buying-los-angeles-lakers-for-record-12-5bn-basketball-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/431081\/","title":{"rendered":"Josh Kushner, Bob Iger, buying Los Angeles Lakers for record $12.5bn | Basketball News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Billionaire Mark Walter\u2019s sale of the NBA\u2019s Lakers is a record-breaking valuation for a North American sports franchise.<\/p>\n

Published On 12 Aug 202612 Aug 2026<\/p>\n

Venture capitalist Josh Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger are set to buy the Los Angeles Lakers, with the \u2060deal valued at a record $12.5bn, according to sources familiar with the matter, on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Billionaire Mark Walter purchased a majority stake in the NBA team last year in a deal that valued the club at $10bn, with the deal only having been approved by the board of governors in October.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

Walter\u2019s \u2060financial empire faces a federal probe, according to reports last month, examining links between investments held by his insurers and affiliates. Walter is also the owner of Major League Baseball\u2019s Los Angeles Dodgers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs lifelong NBA fans, we are deeply honored for the opportunity to become stewards of the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most iconic sports franchises in the world,\u201d Iger and Kushner said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have immense respect for the leadership and vision of [former Lakers owners] Jerry \u200cand Jeanie Buss. 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two businessmen had previously been tied to a potential NBA expansion team in Las Vegas, but Wednesday\u2019s news, which stunned fans and industry experts, seemingly ended that effort.<\/p>\n

The deal requires sign-off from the board of governors. It is also pending due diligence by Kushner\u2019s Thrive Eternal, a new investment strategy launched by his venture capital firm Thrive Capital, a source said.<\/p>\n

\"LosLos Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves, left, just re-signed with the Lakers on a four-year, $185m maximum contract extension last month [File: Jayne Kamin-Oncea\/Imagn Images via Reuters]Magic praises Iger<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to congratulate my good friend Bob Iger and Josh Kushner on their purchase of the Los Angeles Lakers!\u201d Lakers great Earvin \u201cMagic\u201d Johnson posted on \u2060social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cLaker fans, you couldn\u2019t have two better owners. I\u2019ve known Bob personally for over 40 years \u2013 he \u2060has always loved the Lakers and basketball and he will bring championships back to LA.\u201d<\/p>\n

As CEO of Disney, Iger oversaw sports network ESPN and built relationships with the NBA while the company entered into multibillion-dollar broadcast deals for games. He retired from Disney in March.<\/p>\n

Iger and his wife, Willow Bay, previously acquired a controlling stake in National Women\u2019s Soccer League side Angel City FC.<\/p>\n

On the court, the \u2060Lakers are in a period of transition after the league\u2019s all-time leading scorer LeBron James left the team in the offseason to join the Philadelphia 76ers.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew Lakers co-owner Josh Kushner, right, is founder and managing partner of the venture capital firm Thrive Capital and has an estimated personal wealth of $5bn [File: Brendan McDermid\/Reuters]FIFA Fallout<\/p>\n

The deal comes just weeks after Kushner emerged as a central \u2060figure in a controversial private equity plan involving global football governing body FIFA.<\/p>\n

FIFA said in July \u2060it planned to create a new commercial subsidiary, valued at about $20bn, to hold the organisation\u2019s World Cup and other event-related businesses and sell minority stakes to outside investors.<\/p>\n

Thrive Eternal was expected to lead a group of investors. The proposed transaction could have raised more than $4bn for FIFA, with the proceeds intended in part to fund football development programmes around the \u200cworld.<\/p>\n

The proposal triggered an immediate backlash from European football officials and others who objected to private investors taking an ownership stake in the commercial operations of the world\u2019s most popular sport and threatened to become a test of FIFA President Gianni Infantino\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n

FIFA later backed away from the plan after \u200cthe \u200ccriticism, though it said it would continue consulting on the proposed structure. Kushner\u2019s brother, Jared, is US President Donald Trump\u2019s son-in-law. Jared Kushner was not involved in the proposed deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Billionaire Mark Walter\u2019s sale of the NBA\u2019s Lakers is a record-breaking valuation for a North American sports franchise.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2454,48,52,51,47,50,49,100,7496,435,9098],"class_list":["post-431081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-basketball","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-news","tag-sport","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}