Jeanie Buss contests reported sale of Lakers family stake to Iger and Kushner

The Jeanie Buss Lakers stake sale is disputed after the Lakers governor’s lawyer said she has not consented to the reported disposal of the Buss family trust’s remaining 17.8% interest in the NBA franchise. The disagreement could determine whether Buss retains the ownership threshold required to serve as the team’s governor, while the reported ownership transactions still require NBA Board of Governors approval.

CNBC reported on August 17 that it obtained a letter from Adam Streisand, Buss’s lawyer, to law firms representing her siblings Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse Buss. Streisand wrote that Buss had not agreed to a sale and that any vote indicating the family was selling its stake “would be and is void,” CNBC reported.

The letter sets out a competing account to an ESPN report, which cited sources saying the family had decided to sell its remaining trust shares to the ownership group led by former Disney chief executive Bob Iger and Thrive Capital founder Joshua, or Josh, Kushner. ESPN also published a statement attributed to the family saying it had decided to sell the shares to the Bob Iger group as part of the wider transaction.

Can Jeanie Buss block the Lakers stake sale?

That remains unresolved. According to CNBC’s account of the letter, Streisand argues that a 2017 court order leaves Buss as the Lakers’ controlling shareholder and prevents a sale without her consent. He also said the trust’s current co-trustees, Jeanie, Janie and Joey Buss, must approve a sale of the 17.8% stake.

Streisand’s position is that the trust and court order require the co-trustees to vote the shares in a way that preserves at least 15% ownership, allowing Jeanie Buss to remain controlling owner. The lawyer alleged that action contrary to those requirements could amount to a breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty and contempt of court. Those are legal assertions in the letter, not findings established by a court in the reporting.

ESPN reported that NBA guidelines require a controlling owner or governor to hold at least 15% of a franchise. If the family’s entire reported 17.8% holding were sold, Buss would no longer meet that reported threshold and would cease to be governor once the transaction was completed, according to ESPN.

CNBC reported, citing a person familiar with the matter, that Buss wants to keep the interest both for its value and to preserve her role as governor. The reports do not establish whether the siblings’ reported vote was legally effective, whether Buss’s interpretation of the trust will prevail, or whether any sale will close.

What is the broader Lakers ownership transaction?

CNBC reported that Iger and Kushner agreed the previous week to acquire Mark Walter’s majority Lakers stake at a reported $12.5 billion valuation. ESPN’s report said the purchase of the Buss family’s remaining shares would be part of that continuing transaction.

NBC Los Angeles reported that the matter must still be considered by the NBA Board of Governors, which had a meeting scheduled for September 15-16 in New York. Jeanie Buss has served as Lakers governor since 2013, ESPN reported. Following Jerry Buss’s death that year, the ownership interest passed into a trust for his six children, according to the Los Angeles Times.

This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.