Jewish businessmen Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner are purchasing the NBA’s storied Los Angeles Lakers, ESPN reported Wednesday, in a stunning, record-setting $12.5 billion deal.
The sale comes barely a year after the team’s controlling stake was sold for $10 billion to Mark Walter, the billionaire CEO of Guggenheim Partners who also owns MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers, the WNBA’s LA Sparks, Premier League club Chelsea, the Professional Women’s Hockey League, and Cadillac’s Formula 1 team.
Walter, who is not Jewish, is reportedly seeking cash to pay down loans in response to a Department of Justice investigation.
Kushner, 41, is the younger brother of Jared Kushner, son-in-law and one-time advisor to US President Donald Trump who has played a central role in Israel policy. The younger Kushner is a billionaire venture capitalist who holds a minority stake in the Miami Heat - which he will have to sell to complete the Lakers sale - and was previously a minority owner of the Memphis Grizzlies.
“As lifelong NBA fans, we are deeply honored for the opportunity to become stewards of the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most iconic sports franchises in the world,” Iger and Kushner said in a statement. “We have immense respect for the leadership and vision of [longtime owners] Jerry and Jeanie Buss. Our long-term commitment is to build on that foundation, compete at the highest level, and serve this extraordinary team, its fans, and the city of Los Angeles.”
Jewish businesspeople buying NBA teams
The Lakers sale is the latest in a string of recent high-profile NBA team transactions by and among Jewish businesspeople, including Mat Ishbia’s purchase of the Phoenix Suns, Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall’s purchase of the Charlotte Hornets from Michael Jordan, and Mark Cuban’s sale of the Dallas Mavericks to Miriam Adelson.
Kushner, who is the grandson of Holocaust survivors and was raised in an Orthodox home in Livingston, New Jersey, was at the center of a controversy in the world of professional soccer earlier this summer when his investment fund Thrive Eternal attempted to purchase a stake in FIFA’s World Cup tournaments.
Under pressure from stakeholders from across the sport, who objected to the prospect of private ownership of the sport’s preeminent contest, the global soccer body withdrew the privatization offer.
The Kushner family has donated millions of dollars to Jewish organizations in America and Israel, including the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, multiple West Bank settlement organizations, Chabad, the Ramaz School in Manhattan, and Kehilath Jeshurun synagogue on the Upper West Side. The Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy in Livingston is named for his grandfather, who launched the family’s real estate empire.
Kushner’s father Charles serves as the United States Ambassador to France and Monaco.
Former Disney CEO sends message of condolence after October 7
Iger, 75, ended his second stint as CEO of Disney earlier this year. He and his wife, Willow Bay, are the owners of the professional women’s soccer club Angel City FC. Iger was raised in a Jewish home.
Following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that launched the Gaza war, Iger sent a note to Disney’s Jewish employees to “express my shock and sadness.”
“I know that many of you have loved ones in Israel, and I cannot imagine how terrifying the last few days have been seeing the brutality unfold,” he wrote. “My heart goes out to the victims, their families, and all of the innocent people whose lives have been torn apart by this unspeakable violence. I speak for myself and for the entire company in condemning these attacks, the hate that motivated them, and all acts of terrorism.”