Table of Contents
Patrick Soon-Shiong, the South African-born billionaire and Los Angeles Lakers minority owner, does not plan to sell his stake in the franchise, his attorney said, even as a dispute plays out within the Buss family over the team's ownership.
"Dr. Patrick is absolutely not selling his minority share of the Lakers," the family's attorney, Chuck Kenworthy, said. He added that Soon-Shiong regarded incoming owners Bob Iger and Josh Kushner as friends and would join them as "supportive, active and engaged partners" once they completed their purchase from Mark Walter.
Soon-Shiong, 74, bought about 4 percent of the Lakers from the retired star Magic Johnson in 2010. A surgeon and biotech entrepreneur, he holds a fortune of more than $15 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, built largely on cancer treatments, and also owns the Los Angeles Times.
His decision to stay comes amid turmoil over the rest of the ownership. The Buss family, which sold majority control to Walter in a deal ratified by the NBA last October, still holds a combined 17.8 percent. Five of the six Buss siblings have agreed to sell their remaining shares to Iger and Kushner at the deal's $12.5 billion valuation, the highest ever for a sports team.
"We remain united in that decision," the five siblings said in a joint statement, adding that they would proceed "thoughtfully, respectfully and through the appropriate process."
Jeanie Buss, the team's governor, is the lone holdout and is contesting the planned sale. Her lawyer has pointed to a 2017 court ruling that requires the approval of three co-trustees, including Jeanie, before any family shares can be sold. Iger has signaled he intends to keep her as governor for at least five years, in line with Walter's earlier arrangement, while leaving room for change.
Should the siblings' sale go through, Jeanie would be left with just under 3 percent and would need to acquire another 12 percent to meet the league's 15 percent threshold for serving as governor. Reaching that level would be difficult without cooperation from the new owners or her siblings.
With Soon-Shiong keeping his shares, the only other minority holder she might approach is Ed Roski Jr., who owns roughly 3 percent of the team. The standoff leaves the final shape of the Lakers' ownership unresolved even as the record sale moves toward closing.
The intelligence satisfies curiosity. The paid briefings satisfy strategy.
Every Monday, Elite subscribers receive an Investor Memo breaking down the deal, the structure and the positioning behind the week's most consequential African wealth story - the kind of analysis that doesn't appear anywhere else.
Twice a month, a Wealth Intelligence brief profiles a single billionaire's holdings, cash flows and expansion pipeline in detail no public source matches.
→ Executive ($25/mo): Daily newsletter + Deep-Dive Reports
→ Elite ($75/mo): Everything above + Investor Memos + Wealth Intelligence + Quarterly Analyst Briefings
Subscribe now
