Josh Kushner and Bob Iger agree $12.5bn weekend purchase of LA Lakers
Josh Kushner and Bob Iger agreed to buy the controlling interest in the Los Angeles Lakers for $12.5bn (£9.3bn) in a deal struck over a weekend, news of the transaction broke on Wednesday. The rapid timeframe has left many within the NBA surprised.
Kushner, who is the brother of Jared, US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, approached Mark Walter last Friday over the majority stake Walter had purchased only the year before, and the pair moved quickly to reach terms. Walter said after the sale was announced that owning the Lakers had been "one of the great honours" of his life and described it as an "extraordinary investment". Walter had not actively been looking to sell his majority stake in the NBA franchise, and while he is facing an ongoing federal investigation into his company Delaware Life there is no suggestion the Lakers sale was prompted by that inquiry.
The $12.5bn price eclipses recent valuations and sales figures across sport: the Lakers had been valued at $10bn (£7.4bn) in June 2025, the Boston Celtics were valued at $6.1bn (£4.5bn) when their controlling stake changed hands last year, the Phoenix Suns were sold to Mat Ishbia for $4bn (£3bn) in 2023, and the NFL's Seattle Seahawks changed hands for $9.6bn (£7.1bn) last month. The sum also exceeds several major Premier League transactions cited in the report, including Todd Boehly's consortium paying £2.5bn to buy Chelsea in 2022 (the overall deal was £4.25bn ($5.7bn)), and Sir Jim Ratcliffe buying a 27.7% stake in Manchester United for about £1.3bn in 2024; the Glazer family were reported to want £10bn ($13.5bn) to sell that club, an asking price rather than a completed transaction.
Media coverage amplified the surprise around the transaction: when ESPN broke the story on Wednesday it "sparked a flurry of reaction and comment," and the speed of the agreement has been repeatedly noted. Kushner and his company have been looking at investing in the NBA for some time; Thrive Eternal, an American venture capital firm founded by Kushner, had been expected to lead the proposed investor group for the Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal before it was abandoned. Observers inside the sport described the pace and scale of the deal as startling.
On-court context for the incoming owners was also outlined in the report: the Lakers have not won an NBA title since 2020, when LeBron James and Anthony Davis led them to their 17th championship. With James confirming his exit at the end of June and Luka Doncic the team's leading man, the franchise faces a transitional period. "I've gotten used to big changes over these last few years," Doncic wrote on social media, before adding that he looked forward to "building something special in LA together"; the report also noted Doncic is preparing to work under his fifth different owner across just the two NBA teams he has played for.
Basketball figureheads have weighed in on the ownership change: Earvin 'Magic' Johnson backed the deal on social media, saying, "Lakers fans, you couldn't have two better owners. I've known Bob personally for over 40 years," and adding, "He has always loved the Lakers and basketball and he will bring championships back to LA." The sale nevertheless introduces uncertainty about how the team will be run under the new ownership group.
If approved by the NBA's board of governors, the transaction will become the most expensive sports team sale ever reported, and Walter will have made a $2.5bn (£1.9bn) profit on his investment in next to no time.