Former Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger is stepping into a new arena, joining the ownership group of the Los Angeles Lakers in a deal that values the NBA franchise at a record $12.5 billion.<\/p>\n
Iger and American businessman Josh Kushner have reportedly agreed to acquire the Lakers from Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner and TWG Global CEO Mark Walter. ESPN was first to report the deal.<\/p>\n
The transaction, which still requires NBA approval, would become the most expensive sale of a North American sports franchise. Walter had acquired the Lakers from the Buss family for around $10 billion less than two years ago.<\/p>\n
For Iger, the move represents a natural extension of a career that has increasingly intersected with sports, entertainment and streaming. During his tenure as Disney CEO, he oversaw ESPN as part of the company and played a key role in the launch and expansion of its streaming business, including ESPN+ in 2018 and ESPN’s newer direct-to-consumer platform.<\/p>\n
Iger’s Disney legacy also includes some of the company’s biggest acquisitions, including Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and 21st Century Fox. Under his leadership, Disney expanded the Star Wars and Marvel franchises across film, television and theme parks, while also opening Shanghai Disney Resort.<\/p>\n
The proposed Lakers ownership group has already received a strong endorsement from Lakers legend Magic Johnson.<\/p>\n
“Laker fans, you couldn\u2019t have two better owners,” Johnson said, adding that he has known Iger for more than 40 years and that Iger has always been passionate about the Lakers and basketball. Johnson said he believes the new owners can help bring championships back to Los Angeles. The Lakers’ last NBA championship came in 2020.<\/p>\n
Current Lakers superstar Luka Doncic also welcomed the change in ownership, saying he was excited to return to the court and help build something special in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
“Being a Laker means everything to me, and I\u2019m excited to get back on the court and bring a championship to LA,” Doncic said.<\/p>\n
The sale marks another major change for one of basketball’s most valuable and recognisable franchises, with Iger and Kushner now set to help shape the Lakers’ next chapter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger is stepping into a new arena, joining the ownership group of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":810758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3790],"tags":[97284,15947,7,61805,46054,66751,97286,97290,97292,97289,97283,97291,7438,4034,1698,300,4044,251,150,4033,4043,368,22699,20268,97285,9381,63101,80739,6,97282,97287,52368,97288],"class_list":["post-810757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-lakers","tag-ad-tech","tag-advertising","tag-basketball","tag-bob-iger","tag-creative-work","tag-customer-experience","tag-digital-marketing","tag-emerging-trends","tag-expert-opinions","tag-industry-insights","tag-influencer-marketing","tag-innovative-strategies","tag-josh-kushner","tag-la","tag-la-lakers","tag-lakers","tag-lalakers","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangeleslakers","tag-luka-doncic","tag-mark-walter","tag-marketing","tag-martech","tag-media-news","tag-mena","tag-middle-east","tag-nba","tag-nbamagic-johnson","tag-pr-news","tag-startups","tag-technology-trends"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/810758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}