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Fresh from helping enrage the soccer world as part of FIFA’s now-scrapped sell-out scandal, Miami resident and Miami Heat minority owner Joshua Kushner is pissing off some Los Angeles Lakers fans after ESPN reported on his $12.5B purchase of the team.
The basketball world was shocked to hear the news on Wednesday morning, with many complaining that another major sports brand had fallen into the hands of private investors (the same complaint was central to soccer fans’ gripe against Kushner’s proposed purchase of the Swiss nonprofit FIFA last month).
According to ESPN, Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger are behind the purchase after the two were initially involved in a proposed NBA expansion into Las Vegas, “but in a stunning turn they pivoted to make an aggressive offer to buy the Lakers from Mark Walter, who had purchased a controlling interest in the team from the Buss family last year,” ESPN senior writer Ramona Shelburne tweeted.
Many fans vented their anger and bewilderment in the comments.
“The lakers are sold to a Kushner in the same week the Yankees get further in bed with private equity. Absolutely awful for fans,” one user commented.
“Welp, I went from not caring about the Lakers to ‘fuck the Lakers’ this morning,” another user wrote.
Who is Joshua Kushner, the Miami man behind the Lakers purchase?
Like his older brother Jared, Josh Kushner comes from one of America’s most prominent business dynasties. The family’s wealth was built in real estate, but its national profile exploded during President Donald Trump’s first term, when Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, became one of the administration’s most influential advisers.
Husband to supermodel Karlie Kloss, Josh’s (secondary) claim to fame is his investment company Thrive Capital. The billion-dollar company, of which Thrive Eternal is an arm, invested about $1 billion in Sam Altman’s OpenAI.
In 2020, Josh and Kloss bought a $23.5 million home on North Bay Road, which The Wall Street Journal dubbed “Miami’s Richest Road.” About five years later, he made another sizable Miami purchase, buying a reported minority stake in the Miami Heat (a team Forbes valued at about $5.7 billion at the time).
