OAN Staff Abril Elfi
6:06 PM – Wednesday, June 18, 2025
The Buss family, which has owned the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team for 46 years, will reportedly sell majority ownership of the team to Mark Walter for approximately $10 billion.
Mark Richard Walter is an American businessman and the chief executive officer of Guggenheim Partners, a privately held global financial services firm.
According to a report by ESPN, the family will keep a minority share of the team, just over 15%, for an undisclosed period of time.
Sources also told the outlet that Jeanie Buss will continue to serve in her role as the Lakers’ governor.
Walter, the CEO and chairman of TWG Global, owns stakes in several professional sports teams, including the Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Sparks, the Billie Jean Cup, the Cadillac Formula One team, and the Professional Women’s Hockey League.
The Buss family has owned the Lakers since 1979, when Jerry Buss purchased the franchise from Jack Kent Cooke for $67.5 million, together with the Los Angeles Kings and the Los Angeles Forum. Since 1980, the Lakers have won 11 championships, more than any other NBA team.
Magic Johnson, a business partner of Walter, who is extremely close to Jeanie Buss, endorsed the move in a series of social media posts, noting Lakers fans should be “ecstatic.”
“Mark Walter is the best choice and will be the best caretaker of the Laker brand,” Johnson posted on X. “The proof is in the pudding on what he’s been able to accomplish with the LA Dodgers. Mark has been nothing short of a winner notching 2 World Series and 11 NL West divisional titles in the last 12 years!”
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