The LA Lakers are changing hands once again – and this time its for a truly massive sum.
Venture capitalist Joshua Kushner and former Disney head honcho Bob Iger are reportedly set to buy the Lakers in a deal valuing the NBA team at a mind-boggling $12.5 Billion, according to Reuters – but the deal still needs to clear a few hurdles like NBA board approval.
If they do finally close at this valuation, it’ll be a new benchmark for sports team sales.
How much cash is Kushner parting with for the Lakers?
The figure we’re talking about is a cool $12.5 Billion. Not bad – especially when you consider the Lakers were valued at around $10 Billion just 14 short months ago, when Mark Walter took control. This deal is essentially worth $2.5 Billion more in a relatively short space of time.
Now – that $12.5 Billion headline number – don’t get it twisted, its actually Kushner’s investment group and Iger behind this deal, not Joshua Kushner writing a giant cheque himself. We just dont know the exact split for now.
Who is Joshua Kushner and what’s his stake in this picture?
Kushner founded Thrive Capital – a top notch venture-capital firm – and has got some serious tech credentials. He’s managed to get in on some seriously valuable deals – from companies in the public sphere right through to the private one.
Forbes reckon he’s worth a pretty penny – $5.2 Billion to be exact – but some of that money comes from his stake in Thrive, which they reckon is worth around $5.3 Billion after an investment round last year. Thrive raised a whopping $5 Billion last year and has around $25 Billion under management right now too. Not bad for a start up!
But that’s not all, Josh has also dipped his toes into the world of NBA ownership before – he bought a tiny 2.5% stake in the Memphis Grizzlies back in 2019.
What’s Bob Iger bringing to the party?
Well, for one thing, he’s got a wealth of experience under his belt courtesy of his time at Disney. He spent years at the top of the media empire and that’s given him a serious background in sports broadcasting & entertainment rights and of course a load more besides. He’s also got a stake in a US women’s football team, Angel City FC.
For a team like the Lakers, that’s got to be pretty useful – especially the media angle.
Does the Lakers Deal Change Joshua Kushner’s Net Worth?
In reality, it doesn’t change the way a run-of-the-mill purchase changes a bank balance.
When you buy a stake in a team, you’re not just handing over some cash for an asset – you’re essentially swapping one type of asset for another. If Joshua Kushner were to invest a billion dollars into some sports franchise, say, he wouldn’t instantly be $1 billion out of pocket; he’d just be trading one type of ownership for another.
So the actual impact on his finances depends on a few key bits of information – how much of the Lakers he ends up owning, how much of his own cash he puts in, and how the team’s overall value changes over time.
Still, the key details, as yet, remain unspoken.
Why the $12.5 Billion Valuation is a Big Deal
The Los Angeles Lakers are more than just an NBA team, of course – they’re an international sports brand with a trophy cabinet full of championships, billions of eyeballs glued to their games, and a legacy of elite players that have made the rest of us wish we were better at basketball.
So when you hear that the Lakers are valued at $12.5 billion, you get a sense of just how the valuation of top U.S. sports franchises has just gone through the roof. And for Joshua Kushner, it means a serious departure from his days of just making big bets on tech startups – he’s now got his hands on one of the world’s most famous sports properties, no less.
For now though, the biggest mystery isn’t the Lakers’ valuation. We already know that number.
The real question is how much of that $12.5 billion franchise Joshua Kushner will actually own, once all the T’s are crossed and the I’s dotted.
