Bob Iger and a Kushner are buying the Lakers

What’s less of a wholesale surprise is that Walter was willing to sell the Lakers just one year after he purchased a controlling stake in the team from the Buss family for $10 billion. Per ESPN, Walter is currently under investigation for tax fraud related to two of the insurance companies he owns. 

Both Iger and Kushner have owned sports teams before. In 2024, Iger acquired a majority stake in Angel City FC, the women’s soccer team based in Los Angeles. Kushner, meanwhile, has owned minority portions of the Memphis Grizzlies and the Miami Heat (a city in which his brother and sister-in-law Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump live). Kushner, whose family’s money largely comes from real estate, has also been fairly active in the media business in recent years. His company Thrive Capital has partially funded A24, while he and wife Karlie Kloss have been dabbling with the magazine business via Life and i-D.