Bob Iger and Josh Kushner have agreed to acquire the Los Angeles Lakers in a $12.5bn deal, setting a new record for the price paid for a sports franchise, according to a report by the Financial Times.
The former Walt Disney chief executive and Kushner are buying the NBA team from Mark Walter, co-founder of Guggenheim Partners, who agreed to acquire the Lakers from the Buss family for around $10bn last year. The proposed transaction remains subject to NBA approval.
The deal highlights the continued surge in valuations for leading sports franchises, driven by growing demand for premium live content, valuable media rights and the commercial potential of globally recognised teams. Private markets firms have increasingly targeted the sector, with Apollo providing $2.6bn of financing to the holding company of the New York Yankees.
Kushner’s Thrive Eternal, which launched in April to target assets it believes cannot easily be replicated by technology, could also participate in the acquisition. The investment group has already agreed to take a minority stake in Major League Baseball’s San Francisco Giants.
