Los Angeles Lakers sold for record sum

No sports club in the world has ever been as expensive as the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team. Its owner, Mark Walter, was in a conspicuous hurry to sell it. The US justice system is investigating his companies.

Dusseldorf. Wealthy sports fans in America need one thing above all else: patience. The NBA basketball league has thirty clubs, almost none are sold, and negotiations for additional teams take years. Now Bob Iger and Josh Kushner have secured the most famous club of all in three days.

Former Disney boss Iger and the brother of Donald Trump's son-in-law are taking over the Los Angeles Lakers for $12.5 billion. No one has ever paid more for a sports team. There was no auction, not even a negotiation. The interested parties made bids and the owner accepted.

It wasn't until the beginning of August that Iger and Kushner found out that the Lakers were available. Last Sunday they spoke to the owner, Mark Walter. The agreement was reached on Wednesday. “The deal came together in three days,” Iger told the California Post news site. “It’s that simple.”

Too easy, says Bill Plaschke. "This doesn't feel good. This doesn't feel right. Something stinks here," writes the longtime Los Angeles Times columnist. "Why did Mark Walter sell again just ten months after buying it? Who only owns a major sports club for ten months?"