The Hollywood franchise remains true to its location. Just a few weeks after the official sale of the Los Angeles Lakers to sports patron Mark Walter, the Californians are undergoing significant restructuring. At the center of it all: CEO Jeanie Buss and her family.
It was foreseeable that the takeover by the new majority owner would bring about changes within the franchise. What is surprising, however, is who it affects.
As reported by ESPN, the Lakers have relieved their two minority owners, Jesse and Joey Buss, of their administrative duties within the franchise. Both were senior members of the front office and were largely responsible for scouting and draft decisions.
What makes this particularly interesting is that Jesse and Joey were the only two brothers who voted against selling the franchise to Mark Walter. The billionaire recently acquired a majority stake for a record-breaking $10 billion. It was the most expensive sale of a club or franchise in sports history.
Next stage of escalation in the Buss family feud
Sister Jeanie Buss, on the other hand, remains firmly in the saddle. The 64-year-old was already running the Lakers before the sale and remained in her position after the deal. She is likely to have played a decisive role in the dismissal of her brothers. “It was Dr. Buss’s idea to hand over the basketball business to me and Joey at some point,” Jesse Buss explained in an official statement after the dismissal. “But Jeanie effectively kept her place with the dismissal of her siblings.”
The background to the feud is the Buss family’s long-standing ownership of the franchise. Their father, Dr. Jerry Buss, acquired the Lakers in the late 1970s. After his death in 2013, his shares (approximately 66 percent) were divided equally among his six children. Jeanie then took over the operational management and subsequently engaged in a power struggle with her siblings that lasted for years and has now reached the next level of escalation.
