The Buss family has agreed to sell the majority ownership of the Lakers to Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter and TWG Global at a valuation of approximately $10 billion.
It will mark the largest sale of a North American professional sports team all-time.
ESPN first reported the sale on Wednesday afternoon, adding that Jeanie Buss will remain the franchise’s governor and that the Buss family will keep a minority share of the team of just over 15%. By NBA rule, a governor must have at least that much of an ownership stake.
“Laker fans should be [ecstatic],” Lakers icon Magic Johnson wrote in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) after news of the franchise being sold broke.
Johnson is a minority owner of the Dodgers and part of the Guggenheim Baseball Management, led by Walter, that purchased the Dodgers for $2 billion in 2012.
Johnson added in his post: “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! 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. I am so so SO happy and excited for [Lakers] fans all over the world!!”
The Buss family has owned the Lakers since 1979, when the late Jerry Buss bought the franchise from Jack Kent Cooke for $67.5 million – a transaction that included the NHL’s Kings and the Forum in Inglewood. Buss sold the Kings to Bruce McNall in 1988.
Since 1980, the Lakers have won 11 championships, the most by any NBA team during that span. They have done it with some of the league’s most iconic players – Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James – leading the way. The Lakers reached the NBA Finals 16 times in the 34 seasons when Jerry Buss was leading the organization.
In addition to the Dodgers and Lakers, Walter also has ownership stakes in the WNBA’s Sparks, English Premier League soccer club Chelsea FC and the Cadillac Formula 1 team.
Since the Walter-led Guggenheim group bought the Dodgers, the franchise ended a 32-year title drought with its World Series victory in 2020. The Dodgers won their first full-season World Series since 1988 last fall, which was their second championship and fourth World Series appearance since 2017. They’ve had a winning record in all 13 seasons since the Walter-led group purchased the franchise.
“Job well done to my sister Jeanie Buss for striking an incredible deal and picking the right person to carry on the [Lakers] legacy and tradition of winning – Mark Walter, my business partner and friend!,” Johnson wrote on X. “Mark Walter is the best choice and will be the best caretaker of the Laker brand. 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!”
After Jerry Buss died in 2013, Lakers’ ownership was passed to his children – Johnny, Jim, Jeanie, Janie, Joey and Jesse – via a family trust, with Jeanie serving as the franchise’s governor since. The family trust owned 66% of the franchise.
Since Buss’ death, the family has occasionally clashed over control, with Jeanie Buss removing her brother Jim from his position as executive vice president of basketball operations in 2017. Shortly after that, Jim and Johnny Buss attempted to rebuild the team’s board of directors without their sister, a takeover attempt that failed quickly.
“I know that my sister Jeanie would have only considered selling the Lakers organization to someone she knows and trusts would carry on the Buss legacy, started by her father Dr. Buss,” Johnson wrote on X. “Now she can comfortably pass the baton to Mark Walter, with whom she has a real friendship and can trust. She’s witnessed him build a winning team with the Dodgers and knows that Mark will do right by the Lakers team, organization, and fans! Both are extremely intelligent, visionaries, great leaders, and have positively impacted the greater Los Angeles community! I love both my sister [Jeanie] and my business partner Mark Walter.”
Walter has been a stakeholder in the Lakers since July 2021 when he and business partner Todd Boehly bought a 27% minority interest in the franchise from Philip Anschutz, the founder of Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), which owns and operates Crypto.com Arena, where the Lakers play their home games. Walter also received a right of first refusal on the majority share of the Lakers when making the initial minority ownership purchase.
“The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most successful and admired franchises in sports history,” Walter said in a news release at the time. “I have watched the organization grow under Jeanie’s leadership and couldn’t be more excited to partner with her and the entire management team. I am committed to supporting the franchise’s iconic status by continuing to bring together culture, community and entertainment to Lakers’ fans.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts thinks the Lakers will be in good hands with Walter.
“He’s really committed to the city of Los Angeles in various ways,” Roberts said before Wednesday’s game against the San Diego Padres. “Sports is something that he’s very passionate about, and certainly Los Angeles sports. I think it’s a very exciting day for the Lakers, for the city of Los Angeles. Speaking from (the perspective of) a Dodger employee, he’s very competitive. He’s going to do everything he can to produce a championship-caliber team every single year and make sure the city feels proud of the Lakers and the legacy that they’ve already built with the Buss family.”
The Buss family’s 46 years of Lakers’ ownership is the longest among current NBA franchises, with Herbert Simon’s ownership of the Indiana Pacers since 1983 being the second-longest.
The sale for approximately $10 billion will shatter the $6.1 billion valuation for the Boston Celtics, when a group led by Bill Chisholm agreed to purchase the franchise from Wyc Grousbeck in March.
The Lakers will join the Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves, Charlotte Hornets, Dallas Mavericks, Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns as NBA franchises that will change or have changed principal ownership since 2023. Grousbeck and Mark Cuban, with the latter being the Mavericks majority owner and governor for 23 years (2000-2023), were two of Jeanie Buss’ closest confidants among NBA governors.
TOP U.S. SPORTS FRANCHISE SALES
Franchise — Price — Year
Lakers* (NBA) — $10B — 2025
Celtics (NBA) — $6.1B — 2025
Commanders (NFL) — $6.05B — 2023
Broncos (NFL) — $4.65B — 2022
Suns, Mercury (NBA, WNBA) — $4B — 2023
Mavericks (NBA) — $3.5B — 2023
Bucks (NBA) — $3.5B — 2023
Hornets (NBA) — $3B — 2023
Mets (MLB) — $2.4B — 2020
Nets (NBA) — $2.35B — 2019
Panthers (NFL) — $2.275B — 2018
Rockets (NBA) — $2.2B — 2019
* — reported agreement
Staff writer Bill Plunkett and correspondent Doug Padilla contributed to this story.
