Trump-linked Kushner and ex-Disney boss to buy £9bn LA Lakers from Chelsea co-owner
Josh Kushner, the Donald Trump-linked figure at the centre of the Fifa sell-off row, is to buy NBA’s LA Lakers from Chelsea co-owner Mark Walter in a £9bn deal.
Walter purchased the Lakers for £7.4bn in October last year but is set to see a bumper return on his investment when Kushner – brother to President Trump’s son-in-law Jared – and business partner, former Disney chief Bob Iger, buy the Lakers.
The $12bn valuation would make the Lakers more valuable than 29 NFL franchises and see the franchise jump the Golden State Warriors’ $11bn top NBA valuation.
LA Lakers snapped up
ESPN reports that both Kushner and Iger were involved in purchasing an NBA expansion franchise in Las Vegas but have instead turned their attention to the West Coast.
Walter – who co-owns Chelsea and the LA Dodgers baseball franchise with Todd Boehly – initially purchased a 27 per cent stake in the Lakers in 2021 before taking that to 85 per cent at a $10bn valuation last year. The Buss family held 15 per cent and it is uncertain whether that stake, too, has been sold to Kushner and Iger, the latter of which owns the Angel City women’s football team.
The sale would require approval from the NBA Board of Governors and it comes a month after Kushner’s Thrive Capital found itself at the centre of a plan to sell off a stake in the Fifa World Cup. The plan, spearheaded by Fifa president Gianni Infantino, was cancelled after mass revolution.
Honour of my life
“Owning the Los Angeles Lakers has been one of the great honours of my life — an extraordinary investment, but what I will carry with me is the community, the fans, and a city that treats this team as family,” Walter told ESPN.
“I am grateful to Jeanie Buss, the Buss family, the players, and the staff for welcoming me into this chapter. The Lakers belong to Los Angeles, and I have every confidence the best is still ahead.”
The sale comes at a time when the US is probing insurers owned by Walter over the disclosure of assets.