[Front Office Sports] Josh Kushner and Bob Iger have been offering Lakers minority stakes to investors starting at $250 million apiece as they build out their ownership group
Josh Kushner and Bob Iger have been offering Lakers minority stakes to investors starting at $250 million apiece as they build out their ownership group, Front Office Sports has learned.
The duo, which agreed to buy the Lakers from embattled billionaire Mark Walter over the summer at a record \(12.5 billion valuation, have been working to sell minority stakes for between \)250 million and $300 million each, four sources familiar with the matter tell FOS. That is just the starting point, and there will be minority investors who put significantly higher amounts into the deal, two sources say.
The news comes as Bill Simmons said on his podcast Thursday that Kushner is still \(5 billion to \)6 billion short on capital for the acquisition, that he “can’t find the money,” and that Iger is only putting in “like $63 million.”
The idea that Kushner is having trouble raising money for the deal is not true, one source tells FOS. There has been massive demand to get in on the Lakers deal, according to two sources, although it’s not clear who has expressed interest in buying in. The transaction could be completed within the next few months, one source says. Once the deal closes, Kushner will be the majority owner, while Iger will be a minority owner and will oversee day-to-day operations of the team, the same source says.
It has become commonplace for NBA team buyers to reach an agreement and then fill out their roster of limited partners. The Celtics, for example, unveiled a group of minority investors a few months after Bill Chisholm’s $6.1 billion purchase of the team was announced. The number of minority investors in NBA teams, including private equity firms, has grown in recent years, in part because valuations are soaring.
The NBA recently revised its private equity rules to allow a firm and its executives to invest at the same time, a change that was made in part to allow for Kushner’s investment firm Thrive Eternal to invest alongside him in the Lakers deal.