The Dodgers owner buys the Lakers
Walter took advantage of a quirk in the Buss family trust to persuade a sale. The trust granted each of the six children equal voting power, but those shares were to be passed down to the surviving siblings upon their deaths. It was a last man standing situation, one that was unfavorable to controlling owner Jeanie Buss. “If I die tomorrow, my kids benefit a little bit, but they don’t get everything I’m entitled to,” Janie Buss, who sided with her sister, Jeanie, and against her brothers in the decadeslong Lakers power struggle, told ESPN. “As we all go down, it’s all going to end up in Joey’s and Jesse’s hands because they’re the youngest.”
A $10 billion valuation, the biggest in sports history, didn’t hurt either. And with last year’s trade for perennial MVP candidate Luka Doncic, the Lakers are primed for a decade of championship contention that could see the team’s value surge. Don’t be surprised if Walter, chairman of the L.A. Dodgers and Sparks, adds another ring to his collection in the near future, this time in the NBA.
Key dealmakers: Neil Barr, Michael Davis, Brian Wolfe and Heather Weigel at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP (Walter legal adviser).