New boss once spent $700 million to sign baseball star

Yangcheng Evening News reporter Lu Hang reported: On June 19, the Bass family reached an agreement with Mark Walter, CEO and chairman of diversified holding company TWGGlobal, to sell most of the equity of the Los Angeles Lakers at a valuation of about $10 billion. The deal will be the highest transaction price record for professional sports teams around the world.

It is reported that after the transaction is completed, the Bass family will retain about 15% of the minority stake, and current team manager Jenny Buss will continue to serve as honorary chairman of the Lakers after the transaction is completed. The deal marks the end of the 46-year-old era of holding the Bass family in the Lakers. In 1979, Jerry Bass bought the Lakers from Jack Kent Cook for $67.5 million, and after Bass died in 2013, the team passed it to his children.

The Lakers' new boss Mark Walter was born in 1960 and is the CEO of Guggenheim Partners. The company's asset management scale is as high as $335 billion. As a businessman, Walter loves sports very much and has interests in several professional sports organizations, including the Los Angeles Dodgers of MLB (MLB), the Los Angeles Sparks of WNBA (Bachelor’s Women’s Basketball League), the Billy Jane Cup, the Cadillac Formula One Team and the Professional Women’s Hockey League.

Walter's most classic sports investment before was the Los Angeles Dodgers of MLB. In 2012, the Los Angeles Dodgers' operating conditions were very bad and they fell into a trough. Walter's appearance saved the team, and he led the consortium to complete the acquisition of the Dodgers with a record $2.15 billion. Walter then started a revival with the team, and after he took over, the Dodgers never missed the playoffs again. In 2020, the Dodgers won the MLB championship again after 32 years. In 2024, the Dodgers defeated their old enemy, the New York Yankees, and won the championship again.

It is worth mentioning that Walter has always been known for being bold (but not radical) in the field of player investment. In 2023, Walter offered a 10-year, $700 million super contract for Japanese baseball superstar Shohei Otani (for comparison, Lakers star LeBron James' total salary in his 22-year career is US$482 million), and this signing also set a new record for MLB contracts. Walter's Shohei Otani's investment immediately reaped returns in the next season - in 2024, Shohei Otani set the fastest record of "40 Bang + 40 Bang" in the history of the Dodgers, becoming the first player in MLB history to complete "50 Bang + 50 Bang" and was elected as the National League MVP unanimously. On October 31 of that year, in Game 5 of the World Championship, the Los Angeles Dodgers reversed and defeated the New York Yankees, winning the MLB championship for the 8th time in team history.