The Buss Family Trust: Inside the $10 Billion Lakers Empire [2025 Guide]
The numbers tell an extraordinary story. The Buss family trust just agreed to sell majority ownership of the Los Angeles Lakers at a $10 billion valuation—the highest price ever paid for a U.S. professional sports franchise.
That's a staggering return on Jerry Buss' original 1979 investment of $67.5 million. What started as a $300 million purchase in today's dollars has become one of the world's most valuable sports properties. The math is remarkable: a 14,714% return over 46 years of ownership.
The sale price caught even seasoned analysts off guard. Forbes valued the Lakers at $7.1 billion just last year, making this deal nearly $3 billion above recent estimates. That premium becomes even more striking when you consider the team doesn't own its arena. The transaction easily surpasses the Boston Celtics' record-setting $6.1 billion sale earlier this year.
But this isn't just about numbers. The Lakers sale represents a fundamental shift in sports ownership—from family enterprises to institutional investors with unprecedented resources. Mark Walter's acquisition signals how elite sports franchises have evolved beyond what most families can afford to maintain across generations.
This guide breaks down exactly how the Buss family built their sports empire, what drove them to sell after nearly five decades, and what this historic transaction means for the Lakers and the broader NBA landscape. The story reveals both the remarkable success of Jerry Buss' vision and the complex realities of maintaining a billion-dollar sports franchise through family ownership.
How Much Is the Buss Family Trust Worth in 2025?
The Lakers sale didn't just break records—it created instant billionaires. Six siblings who inherited equal stakes in a basketball team suddenly found themselves among America's wealthiest families.
Buss family net worth before and after the sale
The transformation in family wealth is staggering, even by sports franchise standards. Before the sale, Jeanie Buss had built considerable personal wealth as team president, with estimates ranging from $700 million to $1 billion. The family's primary asset remained their 66% controlling interest in the Lakers—the same franchise Jerry Buss acquired for $67.5 million in 1979.
What happened next defies typical investment returns. The $10 billion valuation delivered a 14,714.81% return on the original investment—among the most successful sports ownership ventures in history. This wasn't gradual wealth building. This was generational wealth creation in a single transaction.
Breakdown of the $10B valuation
The sale price shocked even seasoned franchise analysts. Forbes had valued the Lakers at $7.1 billion just months earlier, ranking them third among NBA franchises behind the Golden State Warriors. Walter paid nearly $3 billion above that professional assessment.
What justified such a premium? The Lakers generate extraordinary cash flow that most franchises can't match:
- Revenue engine: Annual revenue exceeds $500 million with operating income approaching $200 million
- Media dominance: League-leading local TV contract with Spectrum Sportsnet worth $184.7 million this season, escalating to $218.1 million by 2028/2029
- Brand equity: Global recognition built through 11 championships under Buss ownership
- Scarcity value: Elite sports franchises rarely become available
The sale obliterated previous benchmarks, surpassing the Boston Celtics' $6.1 billion transaction and the Dallas Mavericks' $3.5 billion sale to the Adelson family. Walter wasn't just buying a team—he was acquiring a cultural institution.
How the trust fortune was distributed
Jerry Buss designed his succession plan to keep the Lakers in family hands. When he died in 2013, his 66% stake was divided equally among six children through the family trust, giving each sibling an 11% ownership share.
The 2025 sale required careful financial engineering. Through a majority vote, the siblings agreed to sell 48% of their collective stake to Walter, reducing family ownership from 66% to 18%. Each sibling walked away with approximately $1.02 billion in cash while retaining 3% stakes worth around $300 million each.
The family preserved some connection to the franchise Jerry built. They'll maintain collective minority ownership of "just over 15%", and Jeanie Buss secured her position as team governor "for at least a number of years". It's a structure that honors Jerry's vision while acknowledging the financial realities of modern sports ownership.
For the Buss siblings, the transaction represents the ultimate inheritance outcome—billionaire status plus continued involvement in their father's legacy. Not many family businesses deliver returns quite like this.
The Origins of the Lakers Empire
Jerry Buss didn't just buy a basketball team in 1979—he acquired what would become the blueprint for modern sports entertainment. His $67.5 million purchase from Jack Kent Cooke included the Lakers, NHL's Kings, The Forum, and a 13,000-acre Sierra Nevada ranch. The Lakers portion was valued at approximately $16 million, though some sources suggest it reached $67 million.
Jerry Buss' 1979 purchase and vision
Most people saw a basketball team. Buss saw an entertainment empire waiting to be built.
"He had a remarkable vision about how he wanted to see this team play," those close to him observed. A former real estate investor with a chemistry PhD, Buss brought business sophistication to an industry that hadn't yet discovered its potential. His approach would reshape how sports franchises operate.
"My dad changed the landscape of the NBA in terms of how he thought about the business," Jeanie Buss would later reflect. He immediately introduced innovations that seem obvious now but were revolutionary then: courtside seating as premium "real estate," the Laker Girls dance team, and in-arena entertainment that transformed games into events.
Growth of the Lakers into a global brand
Success came quickly. The Lakers captured their first championship under Buss ownership in 1980—Magic Johnson's rookie season. That victory launched the legendary "Showtime" era, featuring Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and James Worthy.
The championships followed: 10 during Jerry Buss' lifetime, with an 11th after his passing. But Buss understood that winning alone wasn't enough. He created what he called "a household name"—a global brand that transcended basketball.
Buss pioneered revenue streams that other owners hadn't considered. He struck the first arena naming rights deal, transforming The Forum into the "Great Western Forum". He developed the Prime Ticket network to broadcast Lakers games, fundamentally altering how regional sports reached audiences.
The strategy worked. When Buss died in 2013, the franchise was valued at approximately $1 billion—already representing extraordinary returns on his initial investment.
The rise of the Buss siblings in team operations
Jerry Buss established a succession plan designed to keep the Lakers within the family. His 66% controlling ownership passed to his six children through a trust, with each receiving equal voting rights representing 11% of the franchise.
Jeanie Buss assumed his role as the Lakers' governor and team representative at NBA Board of Governors meetings. Jim Buss became executive vice president of basketball operations. The other siblings—Joey, Jesse, Johnny, and Janie—took varied roles within the organization.
Jesse and Joey worked in the front office and became influential figures, while Johnny and Janie had minimal operational involvement.
This arrangement created both stability and tension. The succession plan gave Jeanie lifetime control over the Lakers, but sibling dynamics proved challenging. The friction came to a head in February 2017 when Jeanie fired Jim as vice president of basketball operations, citing his failure to consult her on major basketball decisions.
Jerry Buss had built an entertainment empire, but keeping it in family hands would prove more complex than anyone anticipated.
The Buss Family Trust: A Double-Edged Sword
Jerry Buss thought he was protecting his family when he established the trust in 2006. What he actually created was a legal structure that would both preserve and ultimately threaten the Lakers empire.
The trust reflected his singular obsession: keeping the Lakers in Buss hands. But family businesses rarely survive the transition from visionary founder to squabbling heirs. The Buss trust would prove no exception.
How the trust was designed to protect the family
Buss built his trust around one non-negotiable principle: the Lakers stay in the family. The trust held a controlling 66% stake in the franchise and included ironclad provisions to maintain family ownership. The ownership stake "cannot be divided and sold off in pieces", preventing any individual heir from selling their portion separately.
The protective measures were extensive:
- Required a majority vote among the six children for any potential sale
- Established Jeanie Buss as the controlling owner
- Named three co-trustees (Jeanie, Johnny, and Jim) to oversee operations
- Mandated the trustees take actions to ensure Jeanie remained controlling owner
These provisions reflected Jerry's determination that the Lakers remain a Buss family enterprise. Even his ex-wife retained ownership interest but without voting rights on potential sales, further consolidating family control.
Why the structure created long-term challenges
The same mechanisms designed to protect family ownership became sources of conflict. Equal distribution of ownership—11% per child—turned siblings into both co-owners and competitors. This arrangement fostered power struggles that would define the post-Jerry era.
The most dramatic clash came in 2017 when Jim and Johnny Buss attempted to remove Jeanie from her leadership position. The trust's complex governing structure made decisive action difficult. With three co-trustees who sometimes disagreed, the Lakers organization occasionally faced operational gridlock.
Instead of creating harmony, the trust amplified existing tensions between siblings who "occasionally butted heads". What Jerry envisioned as protection became a cage.
The 'last man standing' clause explained
The trust's most controversial provision created what family members called the "last man standing" scenario. Janie Buss explained the implications: "If I die tomorrow, my kids benefit a little bit, but they don't get everything I'm entitled to. As we all go down, it's all going to end up in Joey's and Jesse's hands because they're the youngest".
This inheritance mechanism redistributed shares among surviving siblings rather than passing them to children. The arrangement created conflicting incentives within the family. Johnny Buss, the oldest at 60 with young children, had strong motivation to sell and secure inheritance for his children. Younger siblings might benefit more from maintaining the trust structure.
Estate planners recognize this as a common pitfall—expecting "adult children to work together more successfully after a parent's death than they did during the parent's lifetime". The trust required four of six siblings to approve any sale, a threshold that seemed impossible until economic pressures and market timing aligned in 2025.
Jerry Buss created a structure to preserve his legacy. Instead, he built the mechanism that would eventually force his family to sell.
Why the Lakers Were Sold in 2025
The Buss family faced a reality that many family-owned businesses eventually confront: the asset had grown beyond their ability to maximize its potential.
Internal pressures and sibling motivations
The Lakers operated differently than most NBA franchises. While other teams belonged to billionaires with diversified portfolios, the Lakers represented the Buss family's primary asset. That created operational constraints their competitors didn't face.
The financial limitations showed up in concrete ways. When the Lakers pursued coach Tyronn Lue in 2019, negotiations stalled over a $1 million gap—the team offered $6 million annually while Lue sought $7 million. Two years later, they lost valuable role player Alex Caruso to Chicago partly due to luxury tax concerns.
"The Lakers can finally be run like a real business," noted one league source. That observation highlighted the core challenge: competing against owners who could treat basketball operations as pure investment rather than family business.
The trust structure also created divergent incentives among siblings. Some wanted to secure their children's inheritance while others might benefit more from holding the asset longer. These competing motivations made unified decision-making increasingly difficult.
External market trends and NBA franchise values
The timing couldn't have been better for sellers. NBA franchise values had reached unprecedented heights, with the average team worth approximately $4.66 billion by 2025. Recent sales set the bar even higher—the Boston Celtics commanded $6.1 billion while the Dallas Mavericks sold for $3.5 billion.
The NBA's new media rights package amplified these valuations. The $76 billion deal over 11 years, averaging $6.9 billion annually, fundamentally altered the economics of franchise ownership. Teams became more valuable not just as entertainment properties, but as media assets.
For the Buss family, this represented a perfect storm of opportunity. Market conditions had created peak valuations while their operational challenges persisted.
The final vote and decision to sell
The decision required four of six siblings to approve the sale. They reached that threshold, agreeing to sell their controlling stake to Mark Walter, who already owned 20% of the team.
The deal structure preserved some family involvement. Jeanie Buss will remain team governor "for at least a number of years", maintaining continuity during the ownership transition. The family also retained approximately 15% ownership, ensuring they benefit from future appreciation while securing immediate liquidity.
The transaction netted the family roughly $5 billion in cash. Each sibling received approximately $800 million while maintaining stakes worth hundreds of millions more. Mark Walter's purchase valued the franchise at $10 billion, setting a new record for U.S. sports team sales.
What started as Jerry Buss' ambitious gamble had become too valuable for his heirs to hold alone.
The Future of the Lakers and the NBA Landscape
Mark Walter's acquisition doesn't just change who owns the Lakers—it signals how the entire sports industry is evolving. The era of family-run franchises is giving way to institutional ownership with resources that dwarf traditional sports investments.
Mark Walter's sports empire and vision
Walter isn't building a typical sports portfolio. His empire spans the Los Angeles Dodgers, LA Sparks, Premier League club Chelsea, and the Cadillac Formula 1 team. That breadth matters because it demonstrates a proven formula for success across different sports and markets.
The Dodgers provide the clearest blueprint for what Lakers fans might expect. Under Walter's ownership, the team has captured two World Series championships and 11 NL West division titles in 12 years. His approach centers on one core principle: provide championship-caliber teams with every resource they need to succeed.
This philosophy could reshape how the Lakers operate. Where the Buss family sometimes faced financial constraints, Walter's Guggenheim Partners manages approximately $325 billion in assets. The difference in scale isn't just significant—it's transformational.
What this sale means for NBA ownership trends
The $10 billion valuation obliterates previous benchmarks. The Celtics' $6.1 billion sale and the Mavericks' $3.5 billion transaction now seem modest by comparison. But the price tag tells only part of the story.
Sports franchises have become premium asset classes that few families can afford to maintain. As one industry analyst observed, "The best properties have become too valuable an asset class for people like Jeanie Buss to control them". The math supports this shift—when franchise values climb faster than most families can generate wealth, institutional buyers inevitably step in.
This trend is accelerating as leagues embrace private equity involvement. The Lakers sale could trigger a wave of similar transactions across professional sports, fundamentally altering the ownership landscape.
How the Lakers might evolve post-sale
Jeanie Buss will remain as governor for up to five years, ensuring some continuity during the transition. But Walter's resources open possibilities that weren't available under family ownership.
The Lakers' "woefully small infrastructure" compared to other elite franchises could see immediate investment. Walter might pursue top executive talent like former Warriors GM Bob Myers, following the same strategy he used when hiring Andrew Friedman to run the Dodgers.
Magic Johnson captured the potential impact: Walter "will put in the resources needed to win". That means the Lakers will likely operate less like a family business and more like a modern sports powerhouse—with the coaching staff, analytics department, and support infrastructure that championship-level competition demands.
The franchise Jerry Buss transformed into Showtime could be entering its next evolution under ownership with virtually unlimited resources.
Conclusion
The Lakers sale changes everything—for the Buss family, for NBA ownership, and for how we think about generational wealth in sports.
Mark Walter's acquisition represents more than a record-breaking transaction. It signals the end of an era when families could build and maintain sports empires across multiple generations. The economics have simply outgrown what most family enterprises can sustain, no matter how successful their original vision.
Jerry Buss created something extraordinary. He didn't just buy a basketball team—he built an entertainment empire that redefined sports as spectacle. The trust structure he established protected that vision for decades, keeping the Lakers in family hands through 11 championships and countless cultural moments.
But protection became constraint. The equal ownership distribution that preserved family control also created operational challenges. When your primary asset is worth $10 billion, the pressures multiply exponentially. Every decision carries billion-dollar implications, and family dynamics that work for smaller enterprises can become limiting factors for global brands.
The timing proved perfect for the Buss siblings. NBA franchise values hit unprecedented peaks, driven by massive media deals and global audience growth. The family could capitalize on their father's vision while securing individual financial futures that no single sports franchise—even the Lakers—could guarantee.
What comes next matters for every sports franchise owner. Walter's resources and institutional approach will likely set new standards for team operations, from analytics infrastructure to player development. The Lakers will operate less like a family business and more like a modern sports corporation.
The broader implications extend beyond basketball. Premium sports franchises have become institutional assets, priced beyond what traditional family ownership can maintain. Private equity involvement will likely accelerate, fundamentally reshaping how teams are owned and operated across all major sports.
The Buss legacy endures, but their story also serves as a blueprint for other family-owned franchises facing similar crossroads. Sometimes the greatest tribute to a founder's vision is recognizing when that vision has outgrown its original structure.
Jerry Buss transformed $67.5 million into a $10 billion empire. His children transformed that empire into financial security for generations. Both represent extraordinary business achievements, just measured in different ways.
FAQs
Q1. How much did the Buss family sell the Lakers for in 2025?
The Buss family agreed to sell a majority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers at a $10 billion valuation, making it the highest price ever for a U.S. professional sports franchise.
Q2. Who is the new owner of the Los Angeles Lakers?
Mark Walter, who already owned 20% of the team, acquired the controlling stake from the Buss family trust. Walter also owns other sports franchises, including the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chelsea FC.
Q3. Will the Buss family still be involved with the Lakers after the sale?
Yes, the Buss family will retain a minority ownership of about 15% in the Lakers. Additionally, Jeanie Buss will remain as the team's governor for at least several years following the sale.
Q4. How did Jerry Buss originally acquire the Lakers?
Jerry Buss purchased the Lakers in 1979 as part of a larger $67.5 million deal that included the NHL's Kings, The Forum arena, and a ranch. The Lakers portion of this deal was valued at approximately $16 million.
Q5. What impact might this sale have on the NBA and sports ownership?
This record-breaking sale signals a shift towards institutional investors in sports ownership. It may lead to increased valuations across all sports franchises and potentially accelerate the trend of private equity involvement in team ownership.