The Buss household has agreed to promote a controlling curiosity within the Los Angeles Lakers to the present proprietor of the L.A. Dodgers, CBS Information Los Angeles has confirmed.
Mark Walter, Chief Govt Officer of Guggenheim Companions, will assume majority possession over the long-lasting franchise as soon as the deal is made official. Present proprietor Jeanie Buss will retain the title of governor, that means she’ll proceed to symbolize the crew in league issues. She’s ran the crew since her father Jerry’s demise in 2013.
“We will affirm: Mark Walter is coming into into an settlement to accumulate further pursuits within the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers, of which he has been a stakeholder since 2021,” stated a press release from the crew.
The anticipated sale is valued at about $10 billion, first reported by ESPN, shattering the present report for the most important sale of a sports activities crew in historical past. The previous record was final yr’s $6.1 billion sale of the Lakers’ rival Boston Celtics.
When the sale goes official, the Lakers would be the Most worthy franchise in sports activities by almost $4 billion.
Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-Information by way of Getty Photographs 
Apart from the Dodgers, Walter additionally owns the Skilled Ladies’s Hockey League, the Los Angeles Sparks and has curiosity in Premier League soccer membership Chelsea and the Cadillac Components 1 racing crew.
Jerry Buss bought the Lakers for $67.5 million in 1979, in a deal that included the Los Angeles Kings and The Discussion board. Within the almost 50 years since his acquisition, the Purple and Gold remodeled into one of many world’s most recognizable sports activities franchises. After his death, possession handed to his household, together with kids Jeanie and Jim, the latter of which left the crew in 2017 after appearing as the chief vice chairman of basketball operations.
Because the household’s acquisition, the Lakers have a 2236-1467 report and have received 11 NBA Titles with groups which have featured a number of the league’s most iconic gamers like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James.
Over that point span, the Lakers have shelled out quite a lot of massive participant contracts, which embody multi-year offers for Bryant, O’Neal, James, Anthony Davis and lots of extra.
Equally, beneath Walter’s tenure as proprietor, the Dodgers have entered quite a lot of high-dollar offers, most notably inking Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani to a record-breaking $700 million contract in 2023.
Johnson, who beforehand owned a part of the Lakers and can also be a part of the Dodgers’ possession crew, took to X to supply his ideas on the blockbuster deal.
“I simply talked to my sister Jeanie Buss to inform her congratulations, and that I am so completely happy for her and household. I informed her that her dad Dr. Buss can be very pleased with her,” his post said.
He’s additionally a component proprietor of the Sparks, Los Angeles FC and the Washington Commanders.
“Mark Walter is the only option and would be the greatest caretaker of the Laker model. The proof is within the pudding on what he is been capable of accomplish with the LA Dodgers,” said another post.
That is the second occasion wherein the Lakers have shocked the sporting world in a six-month span, after they acquired superstar guard Luka Dončić from the Dallas Mavericks in one of the crucial beautiful trades in NBA historical past.
