In 1979, Jerry Buss purchased the Los Angeles Lakers and transformed professional basketball into a Hollywood spectacle—courtside celebrities, a fast-paced, camera-ready style of play, and an arena designed to feel like a stage. He dubbed it Showtime, and the concept proved so successful that leagues worldwide eventually adopted it as their model.

Now, 47 years later, the franchise Buss conceived as entertainment is being acquired by the executive who spent his career running the world's largest entertainment company. Bob Iger, who built Disney around acquiring stories audiences already cherished, is now buying the story Buss created.

The transaction, reported Wednesday by ESPN, values the Lakers at approximately $12.5 billion—the highest price ever paid for a U.S. sports franchise, more than double the previous record set when Josh Harris's group acquired the NFL's Washington Commanders for $6.05 billion in 2023. Iger and Josh Kushner, the venture capitalist who founded Thrive Capital, are purchasing the team from Mark Walter, who acquired a controlling stake from the Buss family only 14 months ago at a $10 billion valuation, yielding a return of roughly 21%. The NBA's 11-year, $76 billion media rights agreements with Disney/ESPN, NBC, and Amazon, finalized in 2024, have been a primary driver of escalating franchise valuations across the league.

"As lifelong NBA fans, we are deeply honored for the opportunity to become stewards of the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most iconic sports franchises in the world," Kushner and Iger said in a joint statement. "We have immense respect for the leadership and vision of Jerry and Jeanie Buss."

Iger stepped down as Disney's chief executive in March, was succeeded by Josh D'Amaro, and assumed an advisory role at Thrive Capital, Kushner's firm. He had previously served as a venture partner at Thrive before Disney brought him back in 2022 to replace Bob Chapek as CEO. Even before this deal closed, Kushner was effectively Iger's boss.

A Sports Entertainment Venture

Kushner, 41, built Thrive Capital into one of the most influential venture firms in technology, with early stakes in Instagram, Spotify, Stripe, and OpenAI. Earlier this year, he launched a second vehicle, Thrive Eternal, structured as permanent capital designed to acquire and hold minority stakes in sports teams and what the firm describes as "other iconic brands." Its inaugural deal was a minority stake in the San Francisco Giants. The NBA opened the door to such institutional investment in 2021, when it approved private equity firms to take minority stakes in franchises—a structural shift that has accelerated the flow of financial capital into professional sports ownership.

Then in July, FIFA president Gianni Infantino unveiled a plan to sell a stake in the organization's commercial rights—including World Cup broadcasting and sponsorship revenue—through a new subsidiary called FIFA Forward Enterprise. The subsidiary carried a proposed $20 billion valuation, with up to $4.2 billion available to outside investors. Kushner's Thrive Eternal was named lead investor. Following intense backlash and threats of a boycott, FIFA shelved the plan within a week.

Three months later, the same investor closed the largest sports-ownership deal in U.S. history.

Kushner is the younger brother of Jared Kushner, son-in-law and former senior advisor to President Donald Trump. Josh Kushner maintains his own political profile: he appeared at the March for Our Lives rally in 2018 alongside his now-wife, Karlie Kloss, protesting gun policy. His most recent political donation on record went to the Obama Foundation.

The Lakers of the 1980s, under Jerry Buss, were intentionally built as entertainment as much as basketball—courtside celebrities, a fast, camera-friendly style of play, an arena treated as a stage. Disney under Iger operated on a parallel philosophy, acquiring Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and 21st Century Fox for the stories attached to them, building a franchise enterprise in its own right.

Walter, who is selling the team after little more than a year of ownership, said in a statement that owning the Lakers had been "one of the great honors of my life." Walter also controls MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers as CEO of Guggenheim Partners, and acquired the Lakers at a valuation that was itself unprecedented at the time. When Walter purchased the team last year, Magic Johnson told the Los Angeles Times that Jeanie Buss had made the right decision: "One thing that Jeanie was going to do is put the franchise in the right hands. If she was going to sell, it had to be the right person, and Mark Walter is the right person to take over and lead us for the next 30, 40 years. So, this is the best news that could have happened for all Laker fans across the world. Mark has had his eye on the Lakers for a long time." On X, Johnson added: "Laker fans should be ecstatic. A few things I can tell you about Mark – he is driven by winning, excellence, and doing everything the right way."

Fourteen months later, with Walter already moving to sell, Johnson posted his reaction to Iger and Kushner on X: "Laker fans, you couldn't have two better owners. I've known Bob personally for over 40 years – he has always loved the Lakers and basketball and he will bring championships back to LA."

Johnson understands the standard as well as anyone. He won five championships under Buss and has spent the years since defending the Showtime benchmark against every owner who followed—including a public break with Jim Buss.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.