It’s truly the end of an era.
The Buss family has agreed to sell its remaining 17.8% of the Lakers to the team’s incoming owners, Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, a story broken by ESPN’s Shams Charania and since confirmed by multiple sources.
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When the Buss family first sold its majority stake to Mark Walter last year, the family retained that 17.8%, enough for Jeanie Buss to remain on as Governor for the next five years, something written into the sales agreement. Now, without the ownership stake required by the league, Buss will no longer serve that role. Most likely, Iger will fill that role, he has been the face of the new ownership, although it could be Kushner.
There are six Buss family members in the trust — Jeanie Buss, Jim Buss, Johnny Buss, Janie Buss, Joey Buss, and Jesse Buss (all children of the late owner Jerry Buss) — and four of them had to vote to ask for this. The other five Buss family members approached Jeanie, asking to sell the remaining stake, reports Yaron Weitzman (who wrote a book on the Lakers). The family released this statement to ESPN.
“We have decided as a family to sell the remaining Buss Family Trust shares to the Bob Iger group as part of the ongoing transaction. We love the Lakers, Laker fans and will continue to support Los Angeles; but it is time to use this opportunity to move on and exit gracefully while we still can.”
This is the real end of an era. Jerry Buss bought the Lakers — along with the Fabulous Forum, where the team played through the Showtime era, as well as the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL — in 1979. Jerry Buss was an innovative owner who realized long before others that the league was selling an entertainment product. That led to innovations like a dance team, the Laker Girls, as well as in-arena music during the games and breaks, and much more.
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As everything around the league changed and evolved, the Buss family ownership of the Lakers did not — and the team thrived under their ownership. The team won 11 championships under 46 years of Buss ownership, appeared in many more NBA Finals, and evolved into an iconic brand, the biggest one in the sport.
They did that because of all the stars who came through under their watch: Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, up through LeBron James.
After all that stability, the Lakers have now been sold twice in 14 months. First to Mark Walter, who also owns the Los Angeles Dodgers. However, as Walter is staring down a federal and SEC investigation into potential fraud tied to insurance companies in his holdings — as well as the sports teams he owns and their valuations — he reportedly needed to pay down debt. Selling the Lakers may have been how he got that cash.
One thing to watch out for: Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka recently got a contract extension and isn’t going anywhere soon, but Jeanie Buss was his friend and protector within the organization. With her gone, his safety net is gone.
