Dodgers’ $12,400,000,000 Owner’s Lakers Takeover Gives Magic Johnson Gloating Opportunity

Mark Walter has expeditiously changed the outlook of the LA Lakers after his decision to buy a majority stake. ESPN’s Shams Charania announced the sale of the NBA’s most storied franchise from Jeanie Buss and her family. Buss was among the NBA’s poorest owners and the family’s net worth is tied to the team. The sale will give Jerry Buss’ kids a sizeable payout – Dr Buss bought the team for $67.5 million in 1979.

Mark Walter has acquired a majority stake – how much the exact figure would be is not yet public. But its valuation of $10,000,000,000 makes it by far the largest sale for any sports team in world history. This represents a jump in valuation of a whopping 148 times since Jack Kent Cooke sold the team to Dr. Buss. Mark Walter is worth $12.4 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires’ index and is the Dodgers’ controlling owner as well.

Mark Walter brought an immediate change to the Dodgers after buying the team for a whopping $2.12 billion in 2012. Many expect the Lakers to now be able to make moves in the luxury tax after decades of not being able to compete with the financial muscle of tech billionaires like Steve Ballmer, who owns the LA Clippers. Perhaps LeBron James can play out his final years on teams with more roster depth.

Sham Charania gave the following laydown of the Lakers acquisition deal on ESPN a few moments ago:

Jeanie Buss and the Buss family seemed like they were poised to keep this team forever. And there are two executives there, actually, that are Buss family members. It’s the Buss brothers Joey and Jesse Buss that are known in NBA circles as really rising executives in that front office even as part of ownership. So for the family to now sell for $10 billion, it’s an astronomical figure. It’s something that of course is now going to set an immensely high bar.