Jeanie Buss
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Jeanie Marie Buss (born September 26, 1961) is an American sports executive who is the
controlling owner A controlling interest is an ownership interest in a corporation with enough voting stock shares to prevail in any stockholders' motion. A majority of voting shares (over 50%) is always a controlling interest. When a party holds less than the major ...
and president of the
Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...
of the
National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...
(NBA). A daughter of
Jerry Buss Gerald Hatten Buss (January 27, 1933 – February 18, 2013) was an American businessman, investor, chemist, and philanthropist. He was the majority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning 10 l ...
, who owned the Lakers and other sports businesses, she entered the family business as general manager of the
Los Angeles Strings The Los Angeles Strings were a team tennis franchise in TeamTennis. They were the namesake of the original Los Angeles Strings (1974–78) and were owned by Jerry Buss, who also owned the original team. The Strings played their home matches at ...
professional
tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
team at 19. She later bought the
Los Angeles Blades The Los Angeles Blades were a professional inline hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. The Blades played in Roller Hockey International from 1993–1997 and played their home games at the Great Western Forum. Two other franchises have us ...
professional roller hockey team. She served as president of the
Great Western Forum Kia Forum (formerly The Forum) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Inglewood, California, United States, adjacent to Los Angeles. Located between West Manchester Boulevard, across Pincay Drive and Kareem Court, it is north of SoFi Stadium and t ...
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 The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...
.


Early life

Born in
Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
, Buss was the third of four children to Joann and
Jerry Buss Gerald Hatten Buss (January 27, 1933 – February 18, 2013) was an American businessman, investor, chemist, and philanthropist. He was the majority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning 10 l ...
, and one of two daughters; she grew up with older brothers
Johnny Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females. Varian ...
and
Jim Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Jim ...
and younger sister Janie. Their parents divorced in 1972, leaving Buss feeling emotionally abandoned. At age 14, Buss attended
World Team Tennis World TeamTennis (WTT) is a mixed-gender professional tennis league played with a team format in the United States, which was founded in 1973. The league's season normally takes place in the summer months. Players from the ATP and WTA take a ...
meetings with her father, who owned the
Los Angeles Strings The Los Angeles Strings were a team tennis franchise in TeamTennis. They were the namesake of the original Los Angeles Strings (1974–78) and were owned by Jerry Buss, who also owned the original team. The Strings played their home matches at ...
. When she was 17, she moved in with her father at
Pickfair Pickfair is a mansion and estate in the city of Beverly Hills, California with legendary history. The original Pickfair was an 18 acre (7.3 ha) estate designed by architect Horatio Cogswell for attorney Lee Allen Phillips of Berkeley Square as ...
. She became so familiar with the estate that she led guided tours. Buss attended college at the
University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
(USC), where she majored in business and graduated with honors.


Professional career

World TeamTennis folded in 1978, and was revived in 1981 as
TeamTennis World TeamTennis (WTT) is a mixed-gender professional tennis league played with a team format in the United States, which was founded in 1973. The league's season normally takes place in the summer months. Players from the ATP and WTA take a ...
. Jerry once again owned the second incarnation of the
Strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...
, 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 The Los Angeles Blades were a professional inline hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. The Blades played in Roller Hockey International from 1993–1997 and played their home games at the Great Western Forum. Two other franchises have us ...
in
Roller Hockey International Roller Hockey International was a professional inline hockey league that operated in North America from 1993 to 1999. It was the first major professional league for inline hockey. History League president Dennis Murphy had been involved in the ...
. The league named her Executive of the Year. Buss also served four years as president of the
Great Western Forum Kia Forum (formerly The Forum) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Inglewood, California, United States, adjacent to Los Angeles. Located between West Manchester Boulevard, across Pincay Drive and Kareem Court, it is north of SoFi Stadium and t ...
, 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 Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''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 The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...
'' in 2005 named Buss as one of the Top 20 Most Influential Women in Sports. In 2011, ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' called Buss "one of few powerful women in sports management", and
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
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 to his six children via a trust, with each child receiving an equal vote. Jerry's succession plan had Jeanie assume his previous title as the Lakers' governor as well as its team representative at NBA Board of Governors meetings. That summer, Buss commented that "I would be more comfortable if I understood what the decision process n the Lakers' basketball sidewas, and I'm not always involved in it." In 2013–14, she became president of the Lakers; she continued to lead the team's business operations, while also overseeing its basketball operations by working with her brother Jim, who continued as executive VP of basketball operations. Buss terminated
Mitch Kupchak Mitchell Kupchak (born May 24, 1954) is an American professional basketball executive and retired player. He is the current president of basketball operations and general manager of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NB ...
as General Manager and accepted the resignation of her brother Jim as VP of Basketball Operations on February 21, 2017, installing
Magic Johnson Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player. He is often regarded as the greatest point guard of all-time and has been compared with Stephen Curry. Johnson played 13 seasons in the ...
as President of Basketball Operations. Johnson, who played for the Lakers from 1979–1991 and in 1996, had also served as VP, coach, and part-owner of the organization. Buss would then hire sports agent
Rob Pelinka Robert Todd Pelinka Jr. (born December 23, 1969) is an American basketball executive, lawyer, sports agent, and former college basketball player from Lake Bluff, Illinois (suburban Chicago). Pelinka is currently the vice president of basketball ...
to be the new general manager. According to Buss, the team did not go through a public interview process to hire a GM because she did not want to tip off her brother, as the siblings were in a legal battle over control of the team. In addition to her Lakers' management, Buss is the owner of the WOW-Women Of Wrestling. On October 6, 2021, on top of the
Circa Resort & Casino Circa Resort & Casino is a casino and hotel resort in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, on the Fremont Street Experience. The property was previously occupied by the Las Vegas Club hotel-casino, the Mermaids Casino, and the Glitter Gulch strip club. Ci ...
in Las Vegas,
ViacomCBS Paramount Global (doing business as Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned and operated by National Amusements (79.4%) and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York. I ...
Global Distribution President Dan Cohen announced alongside Buss and her long time business partner
David McLane David B. McLane is an American businessman, known primarily as a wrestling promoter and television producer. He was the creator of the GLOW- Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling and WOW-Women Of Wrestling (recognized as WOW! and WOW), both nationally ...
that ViacomCBS had entered into a multi-year distribution agreement for WOW. The distribution for WOW marks the largest media distribution platform for women's wrestling in history.


Personal life

Buss married
volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
player
Steve Timmons Steve Dennis Timmons (born November 29, 1958) is an American former volleyball player who represented the United States at three consecutive Summer Olympics starting in 1984, winning gold in 1984 and 1988 plus a bronze in 1992. Steve played voll ...
in 1990, but divorced after three years. According to Buss, "I never put my marriage first ... It was always business which attracted me." She posed nude in the May 1995 issue of ''
Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...
''. She was engaged to former Lakers coach and former
New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...
President
Phil Jackson Philip Douglas Jackson (born September 17, 1945) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and executive. A power forward, Jackson played 12 seasons in the NBA, winning NBA championships with the New York Knicks in 1970 and ...
for four years, after dating him since December 1999. On December 27, 2016, Jackson cited "professional obligations and the geographic distance" resulting in breaking off their engagement. After their breakup, Buss consulted with Jackson for input on the Lakers. In September 2021, Buss announced on Twitter that she was in a relationship with comedian
Jay Mohr Jon Ferguson "Jay" Mohr (born August 23, 1970) is an American actor, comedian and radio host. He is known for his roles as film producer Peter Dragon in the TV comedy series ''Action'', Professor Rick Payne in the TV series ''Ghost Whisperer'' (2 ...
. They reportedly began dating in 2017. https://www.si.com/nba/lakers/news/owner-jeanie-buss-gets-engaged-to-comedian-jay-mohr-ak1987 On December 21st 2022, Jeanie Buss and Jay Mohr publicly announced their engagement.


Awards and honors

*Six-time
NBA champion The National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals is the championship series for the NBA held at the conclusion of its postseason. All Finals have been played in a best-of-seven format, and are contested between the winners of the Eastern Con ...
**Five as a member of the Lakers front office (2000-2002, 2009, 2010) **One as controlling owner (2020)


Publications

*


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buss, Jeanie 1961 births Living people Writers from Santa Monica, California Los Angeles Lakers executives Los Angeles Lakers owners Marshall School of Business alumni 21st-century American memoirists 21st-century American women writers American women memoirists Los Angeles Blades Women basketball executives Professional wrestling promoters