FIFA Being Sold to Investors 2026: The Deal That Died in Four Days
Lara Johns • Aug 3, 2026 
Reviewed By Paul Jacobs
Casino Expert
The Los Angeles Lakers are being sold again. This time, the price is the highest ever paid for a team in professional sports. The buyers are Bob Iger, the former longtime CEO of Disney, and Josh Kushner, a venture capitalist who founded the investment firm Thrive Capital and is the younger brother of Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law. Together, Iger and Kushner have agreed to buy the team for $12.5 billion from Mark Walter, the Lakers’ current owner. The news comes from ESPN, CNN, and NBC News.
Why This Sale Is Such a Big Deal
Mark Walter bought the Lakers a little over a year ago. At the time, he paid $10 billion, which was already a record price. Now he is selling the team for $12.5 billion. That means he could walk away with about $2.5 billion more than he paid, in just about one year. According to ESPN reporter Ramona Shelburne, Kushner and Iger made their offer over a single weekend, and the deal came together in just a few days. There was no bidding war and no long process. The sale still has to be approved by the NBA’s Board of Governors, which is a group made up of the owners of every NBA team. They have to vote yes before the sale is final.
Why Iger and Kushner Wanted the Lakers
Before this deal, Iger and Kushner were trying to get a brand new NBA team for Las Vegas. The NBA has been thinking about adding new teams in Las Vegas and Seattle to grow the league from 30 teams to 32. But instead of waiting for a new team, they decided to buy an existing one instead.
Josh Kushner, the Thrive Capital founder, is 41 years old. Thrive Capital is what’s known as a venture capital firm, which means it invests money in other companies to help them grow. Kushner also owns a small piece of the Miami Heat, another NBA team, but he will likely have to sell that piece so he can buy into the Lakers instead. As mentioned earlier, he is the younger brother of Jared Kushner, who is married to President Trump’s daughter.
Bob Iger, the former Disney CEO, is 75 years old. He spent many years running Disney before stepping down earlier this year. He is not new to owning sports teams either. In 2024, he and his wife, Willow Bay, became the main owners of a soccer team called Angel City FC, which plays in the NWSL, the top women’s professional soccer league in the United States.
What’s Staying With the Old Owner
Not everything is part of this deal. Mark Walter also owns the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team and the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks. Both of those teams are staying with him. Only the Lakers are being sold.
On the court, the team is already changing too. Star player LeBron James left the Lakers in July to join the Philadelphia 76ers. That means guard Luka Dončić is now the team’s biggest star. Lakers legend Magic Johnson posted online in support of the new owners, saying he has known Iger for over 40 years and believes he will help bring championships back to the team.
Why This Matters Beyond the Lakers
A $12.5 billion price tag changes what people expect a top sports team to be worth. It will likely become the new benchmark, or standard, that people compare future sales to, whenever another big team like the Lakers goes up for sale in any sport. It also shows how much money from media companies and investment firms is now flowing into sports team ownership.
One more detail worth knowing: Mark Walter’s companies are reportedly being looked into by federal investigators over how they reported certain loans. So far, nothing connects that investigation to his decision to sell the Lakers, and his companies say they did nothing wrong.
The deal is not final yet. It still needs a yes vote from the NBA’s Board of Governors, which could take several weeks.
