Jeanie Buss isn’t ready to let go of her remaining stake in the Los Angeles Lakers just yet.
After Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner teamed up for their recent $12.5billion acquisition of the Lakers from former owner Mark Walter, the Buss family announced on Monday they would sell the remaining 17.8 percent stake in the team to the new ownership group.
The team was sold to Walter in 2024 for $10billion after being operated by the children of Dr Jerry Buss following his passing in 2013.
The announcement on Monday revealed that a vote of the Buss family trust – consisting of siblings Jeanie, Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse – received a required majority four of six votes to authorize the sale. Further reporting from ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne revealed that every sibling except Jeanie voted to sell the team.
But late on Monday, a letter from Jeanie’s lawyer, Adam Streisand, claimed that she didn’t agree to sell the team and that any vote on a sale would be ‘void ab initio.’ Streisand also filed paperwork with the Superior Court of Los Angeles Central District to stop the sale.
The letter claims that any sale would have to be approved by all three of the co-trustees: Jeanie, Janie and Joey.
Jeanie Buss is contesting her family’s planned sale of their remaining stake in the Lakers
Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger are buying the franchise, valuing it at $12.5 billion
On Monday, it was reported that five of the six Buss children (including Joey, left, and Jesse, right) voted to sell the family’s remaining 17.8 percent stake in the team to Iger and Kushner
‘No sale of the JAB Trust’s 17.8% ownership interest in the Los Angeles Lakers, Inc. can be effectuated without approval by the current co-trustees, i.e., Jeanie, Janie and Joey Buss,’ Streisand said in the letter obtained by multiple outlets.
‘Pursuant to the JAB Trust and the attached Court Order, the co-trustees are bound to vote the Los Angeles Lakers, Inc. shares to ensure that the minimum 15% ownership requirement is maintained in order to ensure that Jeanie Buss may remain Controlling Owner.
‘Any attempt by the co-trustees to do otherwise, and any attempt to aid or abet the co-trustees as such, would constitute a breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty and be in contempt of court.’
The letter added: ‘On behalf of Jeanie Buss, I demand that your clients make clear publicly that Jeanie Buss is the Controlling Owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and that your clients shall take no action on this supposed ‘vote’ to sell the 17.8% stake.’
Jeanie has been the controlling owner and Governor of the team since her father’s passing in 2013, including through Walter’s ownership. In order to remain in that position, she must retain 15 percent ownership.
When Walter bought the team in 2024, an agreement was reached to allow Jeanie to be the team’s Governor through 2030. Iger previously told the California Post that he and Kushner intended to honor this agreement.
However, in the letter sent by her lawyer, the attorney claims that the rules of the family trust and a 2017 court ruling insist the co-trustees must ‘take all actions reasonabl[y] available to them, including voting the Trust’s shares, to ensure that [Jeanie] is elected as the Controlling Owner of the Lakers on an annual basis during [her] lifetime.’
Streisand also categorized the announcement of the sale of the trust’s stake as ‘just the latest instance of a years-long pattern whereby Joey and Jesse Buss leak false, defamatory and pernicious “information”… for the malicious purpose of doing harm to the Los Angeles Lakers so long as Dr. [Jerry] Buss’ chosen successor, Jeanie Buss, carries out her father’s wishes.’
Jeanie’s lawyer argues that a court ruling forces the family trust to ensure that she is a controlling owner of the Lakers for the rest of her life
The Buss family sold the franchise to Mark Walter in a deal valuing the team at $10 billion
In the statement announcing the sale, the other five Buss children said, ‘We have decided as a family to sell the remaining Buss Family Trust shares to the Bob Iger group as part of the ongoing transaction.
‘We love the Lakers, Laker fans and will continue to support Los Angeles; but it is time to use this opportunity to move on and exit gracefully while we still can.’
In the agreement, Kushner and Iger are buying about 65 percent of the Lakers from Walter. If the Buss family sells their share, the two investors would own roughly 83 percent of the franchise.
Kushner currently has a minority ownership stake in the Miami Heat that he must sell before the Lakers deal is finalized.
In addition, the NBA’s Board of Governors must approve the sale. The group is set to meet in New York on September 15 and 16.
