Joey and Jesse Buss joining San Diego Padres' new ownership group

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Joey and Jesse Buss are part of the San Diego Padres' new ownership group led by José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones.

The youngest Buss heirs' participation in the group already had been widely reported by The Associated Press and other outlets, but they confirmed it Wednesday in a statement to ESPN.

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 is the owner of the back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, the Padres' longtime archrivals in the NL West.

The ownership group led by private equity billionaire Feliciano and Jones 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 their substantial windfall from the sale of the Lakers, who were then flipped by Walter this month to a group led by Josh Kushner and Bob Iger.

The Buss brothers confirmed their new venture with the Padres 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 its remaining interest in the NBA franchise purchased by Jerry Buss 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. Buss argued that the family trust would benefit from retaining an interest in the Lakers, given “the continuously skyrocketing value” of the franchise.

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