Just weeks after agreeing to purchase the Los Angeles Lakers for a record $12.5 billion, Josh Kushner and Bob Iger are circulating a presentation to investors outlining a plan to take the franchise to a $30 billion valuation within 10 years.
According to the Wall Street Journal, which reviewed the presentation, Kushner and Iger are telling prospective investors that the Lakers are on track to generate $681 million in revenue this year. Media rights ($324 million) and tickets ($245 million) account for about 84% of the team’s total revenue, while sponsorships ($80 million) and league revenue ($32 million) make up the other 16%.
As for expenses, the Lakers are currently spending about $552 million per year on everything from coach and player salaries to team operations, business operations, and the NBA revenue-sharing program. As a result, Kushner and Iger say the Lakers will likely generate around $129 million in EBITDA this year.
But Thrive Eternal, Josh Kushner’s investment firm, didn’t put together this presentation to impress investors with where the Lakers are today. The firm put together this presentation because Kushner and Iger are attempting to sell investors on the idea that they can drive revenue significantly higher, increase total profit, and eventually triple the team’s valuation over the next 10 years.
For example, in the presentation, Kushner and Iger estimate that their leadership team will increase the team’s profitability from $129 million in EBITDA today to approximately $589 million in ten years. And in the short term, Thrive says it will drive around $150 million in incremental revenue by 2028. Some of this additional revenue will come from selling larger sponsorship packages, but Kushner and Iger also see a lot of upside in tickets. The presentation says the Lakers will reclaim roughly 6,000 season ticket plans currently held by ticket brokers and convert those tickets into single-game sales, raising average single-game ticket prices from $217 to $361 and driving tens of millions in new revenue for the team.
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