What the Lakers’ $12.5bn sale says about sports ownership
The Lakers get flipped
Not long ago, the Los Angeles Lakers were the NBA’s version of a mom-and-pop shop, albeit one that had won 18 championships and become arguably America’s most recognised sports brand.
That era ended when Mark Walter, co-founder of Guggenheim Partners, agreed last June to buy a majority stake from longtime owners, the Buss family, at a $10bn valuation. But in a stunning twist less than a year into his ownership, Walter is selling the team to former Disney CEO Bob Iger and venture capitalist Josh Kushner at $12.5bn, which would be the highest price ever paid for a sports team.
The shock sale, which still requires NBA approval, underscores how sports ownership is changing as valuations soar and teams are no longer treated as vanity assets but legitimate investment vehicles. Billionaire financiers are replacing the previous generation of owners, often families whose wealth was closely tied to their franchise.
Investors like Kushner increasingly see sport as a sector that is resistant to potential disruption from AI. Private capital group Apollo, whose sports arm this week provided $2.6bn of financing to the holding company of the New York Yankees, has previously highlighted growing demand for premium live sport and in-person experiences.
Scoreboard readers are already familiar with Kushner, the brother of Donald Trump’s son-in-law, whose Thrive Eternal fund was to be the lead investor on Fifa’s doomed $20bn commercial vehicle. With the Lakers, Kushner appears to have won his consolation prize.
Meanwhile, Walter is flipping the team for a 25 per cent profit in less than a year. However, context is key: federal prosecutors are probing Walter’s insurance empire over whether it properly disclosed ownership interests in assets connected to his other holdings.
Insurers did not have substantial investments in the Lakers, according to a person familiar with plans at Walter’s TWG Global holding company, but the sale was expected to help the firm raise cash to inject into the insurers.
Walter’s cash crunch raises questions for the rest of his sports portfolio, which includes Chelsea FC and the Los Angeles Dodgers, and whether another sale could be looming. Under Walter’s ownership, the Dodgers have turned into baseball’s juggernaut, its exorbitant payroll fuelling MLB’s labour war as owners push for a salary cap.
For Kushner and Iger, however, acquiring the Lakers would be a coup. The pair were exploring a bid for a potential NBA expansion franchise in Las Vegas, which is expected to generate offers in the $7bn-$10bn range. But rather than buying into the NBA at ground zero, they are set to acquire its crown jewel instead.