Jeanie Buss Did Not Agree to Sell. The Letter Says the Vote Is Void.
ESPN said the family was selling the last 17.8%. Jeanie Buss’s lawyer told the other side the vote is void. Controlling owner is still a court order, not a group chat.
The Buss family still holds 17.8% of the Los Angeles Lakers. New majority owners Josh Kushner and Bob Iger bought Mark Walter’s control in a $12.5 billion deal last week. ESPN then reported the family had decided to sell the remaining stake to that group. If that closes, Jeanie Buss is no longer governor, and the family’s run that started when Dr. Jerry Buss bought the team in 1979 is over.
Jeanie Buss did not agree. A letter from her lawyer, Adam Streisand, addressed to counsel for her siblings — Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey, and Jesse — says she has not agreed to sell and that any vote claiming the family is selling “would be and is void.” CNBC obtained the letter. CBS, The Athletic, and others ran it. Five siblings are reported in favor of selling. Jeanie is not.
Streisand’s argument is not a vibe. He cites a 2017 court order and the JAB Trust: co-trustees Jeanie, Janie, and Joey have to approve a sale of the 17.8%, and they are bound to vote the shares so the family keeps at least 15% — the floor that keeps Jeanie as controlling owner. A sale that dumps the floor, he wrote, is a breach of trust, a breach of fiduciary duty, and contempt of court.
Two documents, one franchise
There is a tag-along in the Walter sale. There is a 2017 trust order that says Jeanie’s consent is not optional. Those can both be real at once. That is why this is going to lawyers instead of a press release with a ribbon.
Ramona Shelburne’s reporting matches the letter: no sale of the 17.8% without all three trustees. SportsCenter put that on television. We are not going to invent what the NBA’s finance committee will do. We will say the governor is contesting the sale in writing, and that is not the same as the sale being dead.
What to price
Price a contested remaining stake, not a clean exit. Iger and Kushner already have majority. The 17.8% is the difference between Jeanie remaining controlling owner and the Buss name coming off the door. Until a court or a settlement says otherwise, treat “family is selling” as a claim, and “Jeanie blocks” as a letter. Letters are not judgments. They are also not nothing.
The honest takeaway: the Lakers are in a control fight over the last slice. The $12.5 billion majority trade already printed. The 17.8% has not. Jeanie Buss put that on paper.