The Buss era with the Lakers appeared Monday to be officially ending, with a report the family has agreed to sell its remaining stake in the team to new majority owners Bob Iger and Josh Kushner.
ESPN reported Monday that the Buss family will sell off its remaining 17.8% ownership of the team.
In a statement to ESPN, the Buss family said, “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.”
The deal will result in Jeanie Buss no longer being the team’s governor, since she will no longer have the qualifying 15% ownership stake in the franchise. She has been team governor since 2013, following the death of her father Jerry Buss.
Iger is the former CEO of the Walt Disney Co., and Kushner is the younger brother of Jared Kushner, who is married to President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka. They confirmed last week that they had reached an agreement to purchase the Lakers for a record $12.5 billion.
ESPN reported that a majority of the Buss siblings — Jeanie, Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse — voted to sell off the family’s remaining stake in the team.
The deal comes less than a year after Mark Walter purchased a majority stake in the team from the Buss family for $10 billion.
According to the ESPN report, Jeanie Buss’ agreement under the sale to Walter would have kept her as governor of the franchise through 2030.
The network reported that Kushner and Iger were originally purchasing 65% of the Lakers franchise under its deal with Walter. With the Buss family now selling its share, Kushner and Iger will own about 83% of the team.
The sale is still contingent on approval from the NBA Board of Governors, which is scheduled to meet Sept. 15-16 in New York.
Jerry Buss purchased the Lakers in 1979 for $67.5 million in a deal that also included the NHL’s Kings and The Forum. Buss sold his controlling interest in the Kings in 1988 and what is now Kia Forum in 1999. Following his death in 2013, Lakers ownership passed to his children, with Jeanie Buss serving as team governor ever since.
The Lakers thrived under the Buss family’s leadership, becoming one of the most storied franchises in sports. They captured 11 NBA championships during that span, including a three-peat from 2000 to 2002 under coach Phil Jackson and star guard Kobe Bryant, and most recently won a title in 2020.