The Los Angeles Lakers are being sold for the second time in a year. Mark Walter, who also owns the Los Angeles Dodgers, has agreed to sell the Lakers to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger for $12.5 billion, barely a year after he bought the iconic NBA franchise for $10 billion.
Could the Dodgers be next? Unlikely, at least for now, reports The Athletic. Instead, he'll remain the controlling owner as the Dodgers aim for their third straight title this fall. Walter and Guggenheim Partners purchased the Dodgers for a then-record $2.15 billion in 2012 and have since brought the organization three World Series titles and immense regular-season success. The Dodgers have become baseball's model operation since 2012.
More than just an immense revenue stream, the Dodgers hold another key for Walter: Shohei Ohtani's future with the team is directly tied to his. Ohtani's landmark $700 million contract, signed in December 2023, includes a "key man" clause that allows him to opt out and become a free agent should Walter or president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman ever leave the organization.
"Everybody has to be on the same page to be a winning organization. Those two are at the top of it," Ohtani said through an interpreter when he signed with the Dodgers. "I feel almost like I'm having a contract with those two guys. If one of them are gone, things might get a little out of control. I just wanted a safety net."
Ohtani, 32, is in his third season with the Dodgers after helping the club win the 2024 and 2025 World Series. Already a four-time MVP, Ohtani is looking for his fourth consecutive award. He has 26 home runs and a .929 OPS as a hitter this season and he's thrown 85 ⅔ innings with a 1.79 ERA as a pitcher, though knee and biceps injuries have kept him off the mound since July 3.
Beyond the talent on the field, Ohtani has also drawn hundreds of millions of dollars worth of sponsorships to the Dodgers since he signed. Shortly before Opening Day, the team sold the naming rights of the field to Uniqlo on a five-year contract worth more than $125 million, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Walter, Guggenheim's CEO, is currently under federal investigation over alleged improper disclosure of billions of dollars in loans. The FBI and Securities Exchange Commission are working in conjunction on the investigation, which also involves two of Walter's insurance companies, Delaware Life Insurance Co. and Clear Spring Life and Annuity Co. TWG Global, Walter's conglomerate, has been trying to raise cash to help pay down some of those loans, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, describing them as "aggressive efforts to reduce the affiliated loans on the balance sheet of its insurers or to restructure some of them."
The investigation was opened due to an internal whistleblower complaint, per the Wall Street Journal. Kushner, Iger's partner in the Lakers purchase, is the younger brother of President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
