Days after Mark Walter sold his majority ownership share in the Lakers to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner, the Buss family has reportedly also decided to sell their stake in the team.
“Breaking: The Buss family has decided to sell its remaining 17.8% ownership stake in the Los Angeles Lakers to new majority owners Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, sources tell ESPN.”
“The Buss family trust — composed of siblings Jeanie, Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse — received majority votes to allow trustees to execute the sale. It required four of six votes to enact the tag-along provision of Mark Walter’s sale to Kushner and Iger, which valued the Lakers at $12.5 billion,” wrote Charania on X.
“Once the transaction is completed, Jeanie Buss will no longer have the required ownership percentage to remain governor. NBA guidelines require controlling owners/governors to own at least 15% of a franchise,” Charania later added.
Less than a few hours after ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that the Buss family has decided to sell their remaining stake in the Lakers, the team’s governor, Jeanie Buss, has reportedly challenged the validity of this transaction.
“Jeanie Buss was the lone family member not in favor of selling, as the five siblings voted 5-0 — including two of the three trustees — to sell the Buss stake, sources said. Jeanie Buss’ attorney says tonight that she intends to battle the remainder of the family to keep their shares,” Charania further wrote on X.
CNBC’s Alex Sherman acquired a copy of a very strongly worded letter drafted by Jeanie Buss’s attorney, Adam F. Streisand, to address why she considers this deal void in the first place.
“Gentlepersons: As you know, this afternoon, Shams Charania of ESPN falsely reported that the six Buss siblings voted to sell the 17.8% ownership stake in the Lakers to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, and that my client, Jeanie Buss, is “out” as controlling owner,” wrote Streisand in the letter.
“This is just the latest instance of a years-long pattern whereby Joey and Jesse Buss leak false, defamatory, and pernicious “information” to Mr. Charania for the malicious purpose of harming the Los Angeles Lakers so long as Dr. Buss’s chosen successor, Jeanie Buss, carries out her father’s wishes.”
“In any event, any “vote” by any of the Buss siblings would be and is void ab initio.”
“Not only would such a “vote” conflict with the clear and express requirement that the trustees of the Jo Ann C. Buss 2006 Children’s Electing Small Business Trust, dated September 1, 2006 (the “JAB Trust”), vote the shares of the Los Angeles Lakers, Inc. to ensure that Jeanie Buss remains controlling owner, but as I am certain you are aware, in April 2017, I obtained from the Los Angeles Superior Court, the attached Order on Petition for Instructions to Co-Trustees Concerning Appointment of Controlling Owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, Inc.”
“The Court ordered, among other things, as follows: ‘The Co-trustees of the Trust are hereby instructed to take all actions reasonably available to them, including voting the Trust’s shares, to ensure that [Jeanie Buss] is elected as the Controlling Owner of the Lakers on an annual basis during [Jeanie Buss’s] lifetime absent a further order of this Court modifying the Trust based upon proof of circumstances justifying the modification under applicable law.”
“The Order remains in full force and effect. There has never been a modification of the Trust. No effort has ever been made to justify to the Court that there are circumstances for modifying the Trust, and there are no circumstances that could be proven to justify any modification.”
“No sale of the JAB Trust’s 17.8% ownership interest in the Los Angeles Lakers, Inc. can be effectuated without approval by the current co-trustees, i.e., Jeanie, Janie and Joey Buss. Pursuant to the JAB Trust and the attached Court Order, the co-trustees are bound to vote the Los Angeles Lakers, Inc. shares to ensure that Jeanie Buss may remain Controlling Owner.”
“Any attempt by the co-trustees to do otherwise, and any attempt to aid or abet the co-trustees as such, would constitute a breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty, and be in contempt of court.”
“On behalf of Jeanie Buss, I demand that your clients make clear publicly that Jeanie Buss is the Controlling Owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and that your clients shall take no action on this supposed “vote” to sell the 17.8% stake,” Streisand concluded in a strongly worded letter to the Buss family siblings.
The timeline of events clearly indicates the Buss family is on opposite sides of the table when it comes to deciding what to do with their family’s stake in the Lakers.
Dave McMenamin of ESPN claims that the Buss family had an emergency meeting last Monday (August 10) to discuss the dissolution of their family trust. Subsequently, after this discussion, the news of Mark Walter selling his majority share of the Lakers came to light.
According to Arash Markazi of the Sporting Tribune, this decision brings the drama inside the Buss family to the surface once again, ever since Jeanie Buss took over as team governor of the Lakers.
So Jeanie Buss reportedly held an emergency meeting with all her siblings (and proposed freezing their ownership shares) but did not mention that Mark Walter would resell the team the following day.
When her siblings found out the franchise was being sold for $2.5 billion more than she had sold it for a year earlier, they decided to sell the remainder of the Lakers to recoup the losses.
“Jim, Johnny, Joey and Jesse Buss had the chance to cash in on the record sale of the Lakers and effectively fire Jeanie Buss as governor and did just that. Jeanie has fired or sued all of her brothers since taking control of the team. It’s the final act of a wild reality show,” Markazi wrote on X.
Even the statement released by the Buss family after the sale had hints of a clear rift between the siblings.
“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,” they said.
The last six words of that statement alone indicate a sense that the Buss family is internally divided on what to do with their stake in the Lakers.
This rift has been a public feud since Jerry Buss died in 2013. Subsequently, in 2017, Jeanie fired her brother Jim Buss as the head of basketball operations, which sparked this battle between the Buss siblings.
The Buss family owned the franchise for 46 years, and 11 championships later, they have earned an 18,500% return on their investment. Jerry Buss invested $67.5 million in the franchise in 1979, which was later sold for a valuation of $12.5 billion in 2025.
Yet saying that they want to use this opportunity to “exit gracefully while we still can” clearly shows that the siblings are not on the same page about the franchise’s future.
It will be very interesting to see how the siblings respond to this legal notice from Jeanie Buss challenging the validity of their deal with Bob Iger and Josh Kushner on the additional 17.8% stake.
