The Los Angeles Lakers, a family-run business since Dr. Jerry Buss purchased the franchise in 1979, will be sold to Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter and TWG Global, according to multiple people briefed on the deal.
The deal is expected to occur with the Lakers’ valuation being approximately $10 billion.
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Walter, who is the current controlling owner of theDodgers, will now lead the city’s two premier professional sports teams.
Control of the Lakers following Buss’ 2013 death went into a family trust, with Jeanie Buss operating as the team’s governor. The structure of the trust meant the majority of Buss’ six children would need to agree for a sale to occur.
Jeanie Buss reportedly will remain governor under the terms of the sale. All controlling governors representing teams in league meetings need to own at least 15% of the franchise to serve.
In March, Bill Chisholm purchased the Boston Celtics from Wyc Grousbeck for $6.1 billion. Mark Cuban sold his control of the Dallas Mavericks late in 2023 for $3.5 billion.
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And earlier that year, Marc Lasry sold the Milwaukee Bucks for $3.5 billion. Grousbeck and Cuban were two of Jeanie Buss’ closest confidantes among league ownership.
Walter and Todd Boehly became the Lakers’ largest minority shareholders in 2021 when they bought 27% of the franchise — a stake previously held by Phil Anschutz.
“The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most successful and admired franchises in sports history,” Walter said in a news release at the time. “I have watched the organization grow under Jeanie’s leadership and couldn’t be more excited to partner with her and the entire management team. I am committed to supporting the franchise’s iconic status by continuing to bring together culture, community and entertainment to Lakers’ fans.”
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For the Dodgers, Walter’s arrival as owner in 2012 was a saving grace for what was then a floundering team.
When his Guggenheim Baseball group bought the Dodgers from Frank McCourt for $2 billion that year, they not only rescued the franchise from bankruptcy and years of financially hamstrung operations but revitalized an organization in search of a new identity.
The Guggenheim group, led by Walter and fellow businessman Todd Boehly, immediately poured hundreds of millions of dollars into player salaries, clubhouse upgrades and even new scoreboards at an aging Chavez Ravine.
Lakers icon Magic Johnson was also brought on a part-owner in the sale, serving as a popular and trusted frontman for the regime.
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In the 13 years since, the Dodgers have been transformed into a Major League Baseball behemoth, setting league payroll records, winning 12 division titles in the last 13 years and ending a three-decade World Series drought with championships in 2020 and 2024.
On the business side, the Walter-led Dodgers have been equally successful, super-charging revenues across a variety of streams.In 2013, the team struck a 25-year television deal with Time Warner Cable that would pay out $8.35 billion over the life of the deal.
It has invested in multiple rounds of sweeping renovations to Dodger Stadium, helping to bring the All-Star Game back to Los Angeles in 2022.
And more recently, they have expanded the franchise’s global reach, in no small part because of Shohei Ohtani’s $700-million signing two offseasons ago — one that, thanks to the $680 million of deferrals Ohtani agreed to, was seen as a massive financial boon for the organization throughout the baseball industry.
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The beloved O’Malley family sold the Dodgers before the turn of the century, saying the economics of professional sports had exploded beyond the means of families with no other significant source of income.
Under Walter, the Dodgers have not only raised their payroll to record levels but invested heavily in areas that they believe help deliver a winner, from a vaunted analytics department to dietitians for their major and minor league players and expanded clubhouses with the latest in hydrotherapy. The owners also have invested more than $500 million into renovating Dodger Stadium, adding modern amenities to a 63-year-old ballpark.
Staff writers Bill Shaikin and Jack Harris contributed to this report.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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