The National Basketball Association\u2019s board of governors unanimously approved billionaire Mark Walter as the new majority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers.<\/p>\n
With that final nod from the NBA, Walter sealed the sale of L.A.\u2019s storied franchise from the Buss Family \u2013 in a deal that reportedly values the team at about $10 billion. As chief executive of Guggenheim Partners, Walter already co-owns the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Los Angeles Sparks. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most iconic franchises in all of sports, defined by a history of excellence and the relentless pursuit of greatness,\u201d Walter said in a statement. \u201cFew teams carry the legacy and global influence of the Lakers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jerry Buss bought the Lakers franchise, the Los Angeles Kings and the Forum for nearly $68 million in 1979. Jeanie Buss has led the Lakers team since 2013. As part of the deal, the Buss family will retain a more than 15% minority stake in the team, ESPN reported.<\/p>\n
That allows Jeanie to remain in her role as Lakers governor for at least the next five years. She will oversee the team\u2019s daily operations, the team said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a privilege to work alongside Jeanie Buss as we maintain that excellence and set the standard for success in this new era, both on and off the court,\u201d Walter said. <\/p>\n
Buss echoed that sentiment.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the past decade, I have come to know Mark well \u2013 first as a businessman, then as a friend and now as a colleague,\u201d she said. \u201cHe has demonstrated time and time again his commitment to bringing championships to Los Angeles, and, on behalf of Lakers fans everywhere, I am beyond excited about what our future has in store.\u201d<\/p>\n
News of the acquisition first surfaced in June. But Walter has been involved with the Lakers franchise since 2021, when he purchased a 20% stake in the team from media and entertainment mogul Philip Anschutz. Altogether, he now presumably owns about 71% of the team.<\/p>\n
The Lakers\u2019 $10 billion dollar valuation ranks them as the second most valuable franchise in the NBA behind the Golden State Warriors, according to Sportico. <\/p>\n
Walter has been in the sports scene for a while. In 2013, he acquired the Dodgers from its previous owner Frank McCourt for about $2.15 billion. The following year, Walter partnered with Lakers legend Earvin \u201cMagic\u201d Johnson in leading an investment group to buy the Women\u2019s National Basketball Association\u2019s L.A. Sparks for an undisclosed amount, according to the WNBA. Dodger\u2019s co-owner Todd L. Boehly also served as an investor in the Sparks. In 2022, he and Walter were part of an investment group that bought the English Premier League\u2019s Chelsea Football Club for $5.33 billion.<\/p>\n
\u201cMark Walter has a long association with our leagues, having served as a minority owner of the Lakers and as the principal owner of the WNBA\u2019s Sparks for more than a decade,\u201d said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. \u201cAs Mark assumes his role as majority owner of the Lakers, I have no doubt that he will be a committed steward of the team and a great addition to our league given his many successful ventures in business and sports.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The National Basketball Association\u2019s board of governors unanimously approved billionaire Mark Walter as the new majority owner of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[1055,355,99],"class_list":["post-268510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}