Background and career
Jeanie Marie Buss (born September 26, 1961) is an American sports executive who is the governor and minority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). She is also co-owner and promoter of the U.S. women's professional wrestling promotion Women of Wrestling (WOW). A daughter of Jerry Buss, who owned the Lakers and other sports businesses, she entered the family business as general manager of the Los Angeles Strings professional tennis team at 19. She later bought the Los Angeles Blades professional roller hockey team. She served as president of the Great Western Forum before becoming vice president of the Lakers. After her father died in 2013, his controlling ownership of the Lakers passed to his six children via a family trust, with each sibling receiving an equal vote. Buss took over as team president and as the Lakers representative on the NBA Board of Governors. In 2020, she became the first female controlling owner to guide her team to an NBA championship, giving her six NBA titles overall as an owner/executive.
Buss was born in Santa Monica, California, to Joann and Jerry Buss. She grew up with older brothers Johnny and Jim and younger sister Janie. Their parents divorced in 1972, leaving Buss feeling emotionally abandoned. At age 14, Buss attended World Team Tennis meetings with her father, who owned the Los Angeles Strings. When she was 17, she moved in with her father at Pickfair. She became so familiar with the estate that she led guided tours. Buss attended college at the University of Southern California (USC), where she majored in business and graduated with honors.
World TeamTennis folded in 1978, and was revived in 1981 as TeamTennis. Jerry once again owned the second incarnation of the Strings, and he appointed the 19-year-old Jeanie as the general manager while she was studying at USC. "Basically, my dad bought me the team," said Buss. After the Strings folded in 1993, Buss brought professional roller hockey to Los Angeles as owner of the Los Angeles Blades in Roller Hockey International. The league named her Executive of the Year.
Buss is the owner of the WOW-Women Of Wrestling. On October 6, 2021, on top of the Circa Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, ViacomCBS Global Distribution President Dan Cohen announced alongside Buss and her long time business partner David McLane that ViacomCBS had entered into a multi-year distribution agreement for WOW. The distribution for WOW marks the largest media distribution platform for an organization that solely promotes women's wrestling in U.S. history.
Buss served four years as president of the Great Western Forum, then the home arena of the Lakers. Throughout her stint with the Forum, her role with the Lakers increased, and she served as the Alternate Governor on the NBA Board of Governors since 1995. In 1999, she was named executive vice president of business operations for the Lakers. Her brother Jim was promoted to vice president of player personnel in 2005. Their father's plan was to have Jeanie handle the business decisions of the team, while Jim handled the basketball side of the Lakers. Sporting News in 2005 named Buss as one of the Top 20 Most Influential Women in Sports. In 2011, Forbes called Buss "one of few powerful women in sports management", and ESPN said she is "one of the most powerful women in the NBA".
After her father died in 2013, his 66% controlling ownership of the Lakers passed via a trust to his six children, including his two sons with his girlfriend Karen Demel—Joey and Jesse Buss. Each of Jerry's children received an equal vote. His succession plan had Jeanie assume his previous title as the Lakers' governor as well as its team representative at NBA Board of Governors meetings. She became president of the Lakers, leading the team's business operations, while her brother Jim continued as executive VP of basketball operations. She had ultimate operational authority and could overrule Jim's decisions. However, she commented in 2013 that "I would be more comfortable if I understood what the decision process [on the Lakers' basketball side] was, and I'm not always involved in it." Jeanie and Jim had already been clashing for some time, as Jeanie expected the team to rehire Phil Jackson as head coach in 2012, only for Jim to hire Mike D'Antoni. Jeanie publicly criticized Jim's decision in her book Laker Girl, upsetting Jim. During the 2013–14 NBA season, Jim pledged that if the Lakers were not contending for a conference title or the NBA championship in three or four years, he would resign. Shortly before his timeline ran out, he signed two veterans to large, win-now contracts. NBC Sports' Dan Feldman opined that the deals "place[d] [Buss'] self-preservation over the Lakers' best long-term interests."
