Former Disney CEO Bob Iger is buying the Lakers in a record $12.5 billion deal
Bob Iger and Josh Kushner to buy the Lakers in record deal
Bob Iger, who ran Disney until this year, has agreed alongside investor Josh Kushner to buy the Los Angeles Lakers for a reported $12.5 billion, the most ever paid for a sports team. The deal still needs NBA approval, and Iger is buying as an individual, not through Disney.
The man who ran Disney for the better part of two decades is about to own the Los Angeles Lakers.
Bob Iger, Disney’s former CEO, has agreed to buy the Lakers along with venture capitalist Josh Kushner for a reported $12.5 billion, according to ESPN. That’s a record-breaking price, the most anyone has ever paid for a sports franchise.
One thing to be clear on up top: this is Iger buying a basketball team personally, as a private investor. Disney the company isn’t involved. So this is a “former Disney boss does something huge” story, not a “Disney buys the Lakers” one.
What the Lakers deal actually is
The buyers are getting the Lakers from Mark Walter, who only took control of the team last year.
Kushner, 41, founded the venture capital firm Thrive Capital and co-founded Oscar Health. Iger, 75, wrapped his second run as Disney CEO earlier this year when Josh D’Amaro took over the top job. Together they’ve agreed to buy one of the most valuable franchises in sports.
“As lifelong NBA fans, we are deeply honored for the opportunity to become stewards of the Los Angeles Lakers,” Kushner and Iger said in a statement to ESPN, pledging a long-term commitment to compete at the highest level.
Worth noting: it’s an agreement, not a finished deal. A sale like this requires approval from the NBA’s Board of Governors before it’s official, so nothing is fully locked yet.
The Lakers’ price jumped $2.5 billion in about a year
Here’s the number that tells the real story, and it’s a wild one.
The Buss family sold controlling interest in the Lakers to Mark Walter just last year, in a deal that valued the team around $10 billion and got unanimous NBA approval in October 2025. Now, roughly a year later, it’s changing hands again at $12.5 billion.
That’s a $2.5 billion jump in about twelve months. Franchises this iconic almost never come up for sale, and to see one get more valuable by billions inside a single year is the kind of thing that makes the rest of the sports-ownership world sit up.
It also means a stunning amount of turnover for a stable franchise. The Buss family controlled the Lakers for 45 years, since Dr. Jerry Buss bought the team in 1979. If this closes, the Lakers will have had three different controlling ownership structures in roughly a year.
What it means for Bob Iger
For Iger, this is a striking second act, or third, or however many he’s on now.
He spent years as the most recognizable executive in Hollywood, running Disney through its acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Fox, then came back for a second term before finally handing off to D’Amaro this year. Buying the Lakers plants him right back at the center of Los Angeles power, this time in sports rather than entertainment.
It’s a notable pivot for a man who could have simply retired. Instead, the guy who spent his career building the Disney empire is buying a different kind of crown jewel.
The Kushner name and the bigger picture
The other buyer comes with his own high-profile context, which is worth a neutral mention.
Josh Kushner is the brother of Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former White House adviser, and is married to model Karlie Kloss. He runs in prominent business and political circles, though his own lane is tech investing through Thrive Capital, which has backed companies like OpenAI and Stripe.
Mark Walter, the seller, isn’t exiting sports. He keeps his other holdings, including the Los Angeles Dodgers, the WNBA’s Sparks, Chelsea F.C., and stakes in the Cadillac F1 team. He’s selling the Lakers specifically, not stepping back from ownership generally.
So the Lakers keep spinning through billionaires. The Buss era ended, Walter’s brief run is ending, and now a former Disney CEO and a tech financier are stepping in at a price no team has ever commanded. If the NBA signs off, the most storied franchise in basketball gets yet another new name at the top, and Bob Iger adds a purple-and-gold jersey to a résumé that already includes Mickey Mouse.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
ESPN (August 12, 2026), the breaking report of the $12.5 billion sale, the Kushner and Iger statement, and the Walter and Buss ownership history
The Hollywood Reporter (August 12, 2026), the “if a deal closes” framing and the context on Iger’s Hollywood tenure
Forbes and Yahoo Sports (August 12, 2026), the record-price context and the $10 billion 2025 valuation comparison
KTLA (August 12, 2026), Mark Walter’s other sports holdings and the NBA approval requirement