Lakers' $12.5B Sale Comes With a Massive Tax Perk
Bob Iger and Josh Kushner just bought the Lakers at a record valuation — and the tax math is as interesting as the price tag.
The Los Angeles Lakers just changed hands at a jaw-dropping $12.5 billion valuation, and the buyers — former Disney CEO Bob Iger and investor Josh Kushner — didn't just land one of the most iconic franchises in sports. They may have landed one of the most valuable tax shelters in the country too.
The deal came in $2.5 billion above the franchise's sale price from just a year ago. That kind of appreciation is staggering on its own, but the real sleeper story here is what happens after the ink dries. Pro sports franchises have been classified as "Section 197 intangibles" since 2004, according to tax expert Robert Willens — and that classification carries serious implications for how buyers can offset taxable income.
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Section 197 allows buyers to amortize the purchase price of certain intangible assets over a 15-year period. For a deal this size, that's a potential annual deduction running into the hundreds of millions. It's the kind of write-off that makes ultra-wealthy buyers even more motivated to park capital in professional sports — not just for the glamour or the upside, but for the IRS-approved shelter that comes bundled with the trophy asset.
This is why billionaires keep piling into sports franchises even at valuations that look irrational on a pure cash-flow basis. The tax architecture around these deals transforms what looks like a luxury purchase into a financially engineered investment vehicle. Iger and Kushner didn't just buy a basketball team. They bought a depreciating asset — in the eyes of the tax code — worth $12.5 billion.
For retail investors watching from the sidelines, this is a reminder that the wealthiest players in the market operate in a completely different tax reality. The rules are public, but the access isn't. Continue reading at Yahoo.
