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For the first time in more than 45 years, the Bass Family members are not the majority owners of the Los Angeles Lakers.
According to multiple reports, the bus family, led by Johnny Bus, the team’s leading caretaker, has agreed to sell the majority of ownership of the team to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ main owners for $10 billion.
The new majority owners of the team are Mark Walter, CEO of TWG Global, a conglomerate with various financial business interests, and ownership of the world’s most valuable sports franchise.
The Los Angeles Dodgers shoes are posing for a photo of Dodger Stadium owner Mark Walter and baseball business president Andrew Friedman on December 14, 2023.
Walter has had a minority interest in the team for several years now, but now assumes the main ownership of one of the most well-known and important sports brands in the world.
According to ESPN, Johnny Bus will remain in his current role as the team’s governor and will be serving as a key decision maker for the time being.
The Lakers were purchased in 1979 by family patriarch Jerry Bass. He bought the troubled team at the lowest point, leveraging his vast real estate holdings in terms of its relevance and profitability.
Bus paid former owner Jack Kent Cook $67.5 million to the Lakers, Los Angeles Kings NHL team and Inglewood forum.
Former Lakers owner Jerry Bass posed outside the Inglewood Forum on July 17, 1979. He purchased the Lakers in 1979 from Jack Kent Cook for $67.5 million. (Getty Images)
In the decades that followed, Jerry, along with key figures such as Phil Jackson, Jerry West and Pat Reilly, transformed the franchise into a global powerhouse and one of North America’s most successful sports franchises.
The team has achieved consistent success under bus family stewardship, including 10 NBA titles under Jerry Buss and 11th under the current establishment.
The Lakers have gathered stars in bus ownership periods, including Kareem Abdul Jabber in the 2000s’ “Showtime Lakers” era, Magic Johnson in the “Showtime Lakers” era, the Renaissance era of the 2000s, and the current roster that includes the league’s greatest Scoller Le Bron James’ greatest Scoller Le Bron James’ greatest Scoller and Louvandnis’ greatest Donis.
While having nearly reserve success in one of the country’s most desirable markets, the Bass family is one of the NBA’s financially strong ownership groups, with a large portion of their fortune coming from the value of the team itself.
Meanwhile, Walter is a huge sum of money at his disposal. Lakers fans have already spit on the idea of a new offensive owner with money to burn money to steal the team’s reins as NBA free agency opens in the coming weeks.
The NBA Draft will be held June 25-26 with a free agency signature window at 9am on July 6th.
Walter also owns the Los Angeles Sparks WNBA team and the Formula 1 racing team.
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