For the second straight year, the Los Angeles Lakers are headed toward a change in ownership, and this one comes with a staggering price tag. Mark Walter has agreed to sell the franchise to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner for an American sports record $12.5 billion, a move that puts two high-profile names at the center of one of the biggest brands in sports.
Neither man is exactly a stranger to the spotlight. Iger built his reputation at Disney, while Kushner comes from a well-known family that includes U.S. president Donald Trump. But when it comes to the money behind the deal, the two sit in very different places.
Iger’s personal wealth has been estimated at $690 million as of 2019 by Forbes, though Celebrity Net Worth lists him at $600 million. Even with a return to Disney’s top job in 2022 after retiring, he is not operating with the kind of fortune typically associated with NBA ownership.
And like any purchase of this size, there are expected to be multiple people helping fund the deal. Iger is not necessarily the one supplying the bulk of the cash, but he is one of the visible faces of the new ownership group.
His path to that position started long before the boardrooms and billion-dollar headlines. Iger joined ABC at 23 doing physical work for TV production and climbed steadily through the company.
He eventually became head of ABC Entertainment, then president of ABC’s parent company before Disney bought ABC. From there, he moved to Disney in 1999, became president of The Walt Disney Company in 2000, and took over as CEO in 2005.
He held that role until 2020, returned in 2022, and stepped away again this past March.
Kushner, by contrast, brings far more personal wealth to the table. Forbes estimates his net worth at $5.2 billion, which places him at No. 806 on the list of the world’s richest people. He has already had a foot in NBA ownership before, serving as a minority owner of the Grizzlies and Heat.
His money traces back to both family and business. His grandfather, Joseph, was a successful real estate developer in New Jersey, and his father, Charles, inherited Joseph’s portfolios and later founded Kushner Companies, which grew into a major force in the New York area.
Josh Kushner’s own fortune is estimated to be larger than his father’s, thanks in large part to Thrive Capital, the venture capital firm he launched in 2009. He also founded the health insurance start-up Oscar Health.
Kushner’s family connections are also part of the story. He is the brother-in-law of Jared Kushner, who is married to U.S. president Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka.
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Josh Kushners family ties to Trump have helped fuel the noise, even though he has no official role in the administration. Amid the broader talk about federal investigations involving current owner Mark Walter and whether they could be used as leverage, Kushners venture capital firm also pushed back on the claims, leaving the story in a familiar holding pattern: plenty of speculation, but no public proof tying the Lakers sale to the White House. [Read more 🡒]
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The wrinkle is that the Lakers are now entering an ownership transition, with Bob Iger and Josh Kushner among the new faces at the top and no detailed blueprint yet for how they plan to reshape the franchise. Around that shift, one name has started to surface in conversation: recently retired Chris Paul, whose long relationship with Iger has fueled talk that he could eventually be considered for an advisory role. For Redick, that means the future may be tied not just to his own performance, but to how the new decision-makers decide to build around him. [Read more 🡒]