The Buss family is entering into an agreement to sell majority ownership of the Los Angeles Lakers to Mark Walter for a franchise valuation of approximately $10 billion, sources told ESPN on Wednesday, the most ever for a U.S. professional sports franchise.
The Buss family will keep a minority share of the team, just over 15%, for a period of time, a source said.
In addition, Jeanie Buss will remain the Lakers’ governor and continue to run the team for “at least a number of years,” sources with knowledge of the deal told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. It was guaranteed as part of the agreement that Jeanie Buss would remain in charge for the foreseeable future, and Walter fully endorsed this plan, according to sources.
Walter, the CEO and chairman of diversified holding company TWG Global, has interests in multiple professional sports organizations, including the Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Sparks, the Billie Jean Cup, Cadillac Formula 1 team and the Professional Women’s Hockey League.
The Lakers have been owned by the Buss family since 1979, when Jerry Buss purchased the franchise from Jack Kent Cooke in a $67.5 million transaction that also included the Los Angeles Kings and the Forum. Since 1980, the Lakers have won 11 championships, the most by any NBA team during that span.
The Lakers passed to Buss’ children when he died in 2013, and his daughter Jeanie has served as the Lakers’ governor since.
Walter has been a stakeholder in the Lakers since 2021, when he purchased Phil Anschutz’s share of 26%. That was also when Walter received a right of first refusal on the majority share of the team.
Franchise legend Magic Johnson, a business partner of Walter’s and someone extremely close to Jeanie Buss, endorsed the move in a series of social media posts, noting Lakers fans should be “ecstatic.”
“Mark Walter is the best choice and will be the best caretaker of the Laker brand,” Johnson posted on X. “The proof is in the pudding on what he’s been able to accomplish with the LA Dodgers. Mark has been nothing short of a winner notching 2 World Series and 11 NL West divisional titles in the last 12 years!”
Johnson said he is certain Jeanie Buss made the deal only after being convinced that Walter will do right by the Lakers.
“A few things I can tell you about Mark — he is driven by winning, excellence, and doing everything the right way. AND he will put in the resources needed to win!” Johnson said. “I can understand why Jeanie sold the team to Mark Walter because they are just alike — they are competitive people, have big hearts, love to give back, and both prefer to be behind the scenes. This makes all the sense in the world.”
Walter, known for shunning the spotlight, is also CEO of the financial services firm Guggenheim Partners, which is estimated to have more than $325 billion in assets. Johnson is among Guggenheim’s investors.
The Lakers have been in the control of the Buss family for 46 years, the longest of any current NBA franchise. Herb Simon bought the Indiana Pacers — currently in the NBA Finals — in 1983, the second-longest current ownership of an NBA club.
Sources told Shelburne that Lakers star Luka Doncic, acquired in the blockbuster February trade that sent Anthony Davis to Dallas, was given a short heads-up on the purchase agreement.
The impending Lakers sale was preceded by two of Jeanie Buss’ closest confidants in the NBA governors community agreeing to sales for their teams in the past two years: Mark Cuban sold a majority stake in the Mavericks for $3.5 billion in 2023, and Wyc Grousbeck sold the Boston Celtics for $6.1 billion about three months ago.
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin and ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
