Business & Finance
Buss family dispute over Los Angeles Lakers highlights trust and estate planning challenges
Five siblings seek to sell the family's remaining stake in the franchise, while team governor Jeanie Buss opposes the move, illustrating business succession pitfalls.
The short version
- Five of late owner Jerry Buss's six adult children want to sell the family's remaining stake in the Los Angeles Lakers, valued in a separate recent transaction at $12.5 billion.
- Lakers governor Jeanie Buss opposes the sale, arguing her siblings lack the legal authority to sell and asserting that a forced sale would strip her of her executive role.
- Trusts and estates attorneys point to the dispute as an example of common succession challenges, including equal voting splits and clauses that transfer equity to surviving siblings rather than descendants.
Key facts
- Five of Jerry Buss's six adult children are seeking to sell the family's remaining stake in the Los Angeles Lakers, while Jeanie Buss opposes the sale.[CNBC]
- A separate recent transaction valued the Los Angeles Lakers franchise at $12.5 billion.[CNBC]
- A sale of the family's stake would result in Jeanie Buss losing her position as governor of the Lakers.[CNBC]
- Jerry Buss divided controlling interest evenly among his six children with equal voting rights, while designating Jeanie Buss to serve as the team governor.[CNBC]
- According to statements made by sister Janie Buss to ESPN in 2017, the family trust contains a provision transferring a deceased sibling's equity to surviving siblings rather than their children.[CNBC]
What remains uncertain
- The precise terms of the Buss family trust remain unverified, as interviewed estate attorneys have not reviewed the document and representatives for the siblings did not respond to requests for comment.[CNBC]