In a letter from her lawyer, obtained by ESPN, Jeanie Buss is contesting her siblings’ vote to sell their remaining 17.8 percent share of the Los Angeles Lakers to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger.
Written by her attorney Adam Streisand, Jeanie argued in a letter to the five siblings who voted in favor of selling the family’s stake that a 2017 court ruling indicated a sale cannot be “effectuated without approval by the co-trustees, i.e. Jeanie, Janie and Joey Buss.”
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the tag-along provision was enacted when four of the six siblings in the Buss family trust voted to approve the sale of its remaining stake.
The Sporting Tribune founder and CEO Arash Markazi reported that Jim, Johnny, Joey and Jesse triggered this provision.
The letter argues that co-trustees are “bound to vote … to ensure that the minimum 15 percent ownership requirement is maintained in order to ensure that Jeanie Buss may remain Controlling Owner.”
According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, Mark Walter agreed to let Jeanie stay on as the team's controlling owner for at least five years when he bought a majority stake in the Lakers in June 2025.
Iger recently told the California Post that he has “every intention to honor the agreement that was made between Mark and Jeanie,” adding, “If things change, they’ll change.”
The letter stated “to aid or abet the co-trustees as such, would constitute a breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty and be in contempt of court.”
