The Buss family’s attempt to sell its remaining 17.8% stake in the Los Angeles Lakers has hit a snag. Despite reporting that all six Buss siblings had agreed to sell their shares in the team, there is one that is reportedly contesting the sale: Jeanie Buss, the eldest daughter of former owner Jerry Buss and governor of the team.
In a letter obtained by multiple outlets, Buss’ lawyer Adam Streisand wrote that she was opposed to selling the team, and that “any ‘vote’ by any of the Buss siblings would be and is void” given that it would violate requirements of the Buss’ trust, which owns the shares of the Lakers.
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A statement attributed to the Buss family earlier on Monday indicated that they had decided to sell the remaining minority ownership of the team to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner as part of the larger sale of the team, saying that they wanted to “exit gracefully” amid the newest sale.
However, in the letter, which was posted in full by CNBC, Streisand wrote to three law firms representing Jeanie’s siblings — Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse — and urged them to walk back the deal.
Streisand accused ESPN’s Shams Charania of “falsely” reporting that all six of the Buss siblings had voted to sell the stake, and accused Joey and Jesse Buss of “leak[ing] false, defamatory and pernicious ‘information'” to Charania “for the malicious purpose of doing harm” to the Lakers’ organization.
Per Streisand, the vote would conflict with requirements of the trust set up by family matriarch JoAnn Buss to keep Jeanie as controlling owner of the team on an annual basis. Under those requirements, per Streisand, the family trust must maintain 15% ownership to keep Jeanie as controlling owner.
“No sale … can be effectuated without approval by the current co-trustees, i.e., Jeanie, Janie and Joey Buss,” Streisand wrote. “On behalf of Jeanie Buss, I demand that your clients make clear publicly that Jeanie Buss is the Controlling Owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and that your clients shall take no action on this supposed “vote” to sell the 17.8% stake.”
A group led by Iger and Kushner agreed to purchase the team from Mark Walter last week for a record $12.5 billion, just one year after Walter bought the majority stake from the Buss family. Under this new agreement, the Buss family shares would be absorbed into the larger sale, giving Iger and Kushner’s group an ownership stake of around 83%.
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Jeanie, who took over as team governor and controlling owner after the death of family patriarch Jerry Buss in 2013, was promised by Walter that she would get to stay on as governor despite the initial sale, with Iger and Kushner reportedly planning to keep that promise.
CNBC reported that Jeanie Buss wanted to keep the stake in the team both to increase its value and to stay on as team governor. The Buss family would need to hold at least 15% of the team in order for Jeanie to continue her role as governor.
The conflict between Buss siblings is nothing new, with Jeanie butting heads with most of her siblings since taking over the Lakers. Jeanie famously fired Jim as vice president of basketball operations in 2017. More recently, the two youngest Buss brothers, Joey and Jesse, were fired from their front-office positions amid a restructure in November.
The sale, with its many moving parts, will need to be approved by the NBA’s board of governors.
