Joey and Jesse Buss Join Padres' New Ownership Group
The Buss brothers, former Lakers executives, confirmed their stake in the San Diego Padres' incoming ownership led by José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones.
Joey and Jesse Buss are part of the San Diego Padres' new ownership group led by private equity billionaire José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones, the brothers confirmed Wednesday in a statement to ESPN.
Their participation had already been widely reported by The Associated Press and other outlets before the confirmation.
Joey and Jesse Buss, who grew up in San Diego County, were executives with the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers before their family sold its majority ownership stake to Mark Walter last year. Walter also owns the back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, the Padres' longtime archrivals in the NL West.
The Feliciano- and Jones-led group is closing its purchase of the Padres this month at an MLB-record valuation of $3.9 billion.
The Buss brothers formed Buss Sports Capital last year to invest proceeds from the sale of the Lakers, who were flipped by Walter this month to a group led by Josh Kushner and Bob Iger.
The brothers' new venture with the Padres was confirmed one week after five of the six Buss heirs voted to sell their 17.8% minority ownership stake in the Lakers to Kushner and Iger.
Jeanie Buss, the Lakers' governor since the death of their father in 2013, is contesting her five siblings' desire to sell the remaining interest in the NBA franchise, which their father Jerry Buss purchased in 1979.
ESPN reported Wednesday that Jeanie Buss filed a petition in Los Angeles Superior Court challenging the legality of her siblings' vote to sell, arguing the family trust would benefit from retaining an interest in the Lakers given "the continuously skyrocketing value" of the franchise.
This article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI), in accordance with our editorial policy.
