WHO IS JOSH KUSHNER, THE BILLIONAIRE WHO JUST BOUGHT THE LAKERS?

Joshua Kushner, founder of Thrive Capital, speaks during the Hill & Valley forum at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images

New York —  Josh Kushner doesn’t give many interviews or make public appearances often, but he’s keen on making headlines.

Kushner, the brother of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared, announced that he was teaming up with former Disney CEO Bob Iger to buy the Los Angeles Lakers for a record-breaking $12.5 billion.

It’s just one of many flashy deals and investments involving the 41-year-old as of late. His successful career as founder of Thrive Capital, a venture capital firm that raised more than $10 billion in its latest round, has served as a springboard to build his status as a powerful mogul.

“I think Thrive is a very small percentage of its potential. I feel like we’re just getting started,” Kushner said in a February podcast, frequently mentioning loyalty and humility as his core leadership values.

“I believe that my word, the word of the firm, is more important than anything else,” he continued.

Thrive has amassed a massive portfolio, ranging from early investments in high-profile technology companies like OpenAI and SpaceX, to trendy brands such as Spotify, Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS and movie studio A24. It’s also involved in sports, owning minority portions of the San Francisco Giants and the Miami Heat.

The New York-based firm also has an offshoot, called Thrive Holdings, which invests in companies that are working to modernize traditionally old-school industries through AI.

“I think this is the most important moment in our lifetimes. In many respects AI is underhyped,” Kushner said in a 2025 interview at the tech and policy summit The Hill & Valley Forum.

Kushner’s Thrive is also a pivotal investor in OpenAI, most recently funneling another $1 billion to the company in December, CNBC reported. He shares a close working relationship with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

“Josh makes high-conviction bets on high-quality companies and founders, and he doesn’t care too much about what other investors think. I feel a lot of camaraderie with that,” Altman told Fortune in 2024.

Josh, born in New Jersey, is the son of real estate tycoon Charles Kushner. He’s the younger brother of Jared Kushner, who is more well known these days as the son-in-law of President Donald Trump. His father Charles was pardoned by Trump in 2020 over a 2005 conviction on federal tax evasion charges.

Founder and CEO of Thrive Capital Josh Kushner attends the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference at the Sun Valley Lodge on July 10, 2026 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Josh, however, has largely steered clear of associating himself with the Trump family. Rather, he’s building one of his own with model Karlie Kloss, who married in 2018 and have three children. The pair are regulars at the Met Gala.

Still, the two have not been fully able to separate themselves from his family. (“Not even to dinner with the Kushners?,” one contestant on reality TV show Project Runway infamously quipped to Kloss over criticism about a dress designed for her.)

“I’m sure I’m not the only person in this country who does not necessarily agree with their family on politics,” Kloss said in a later interview. “… my man and I have been through a lot together and you know I’m so proud that he’s my partner.”

Kushner said in 2017 that “It is no secret that liberal values have guided my life and that I have supported political leaders that share similar values.”

Kushner also founded Oscar Health in 2012, a health insurance company that initially capitalized on the creation of the Affordable Care Act marketplaces and recently posted record profits.

According to Forbes, Kushner is worth about $5 billion.

Still, not all of his bets are successful: Last month Kushner’s Thrive Eternal was part of a controversial —and quickly scrapped — plan with FIFA to sell private stakes in upcoming World Cup tournaments. FIFA said that the money generated will be reinvested back into the sport.

Kushner’s purchase of the Lakers “serves as a way to put the FIFA controversy behind him quickly and almost turn a new leaf in the sports sector,” Mark Conrad, professor of law and ethics at Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business, told CNN over email.

“It certainly puts him on the map more than before,” he said.

- Jordan Valinsky and Ramishah Maruf

FIFA BOSS INFANTINO SCRAPS WORLD CUP SELL OFF PLANS AFTER BACKLASH

"Having listened carefully to all the views, it has become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place," the FIFA president said in a statement on Friday.

President Gianni Infantino holds the FIFA World Cup winner's trophy. SAM HODDE/GETTY IMAGES

After announcing plans earlier this week for FIFA to sell off a stake in the World Cup to private investors, the president of the global soccer governing body, Gianni Infantino, has announced he’s pulling those plans.

“The FIFA Forward Enterprise project was intended to provide a basis for further strengthening our FIFA Member Associations and our sport worldwide, especially in those countries where support is most needed. And more so, as we said from the outset, to do this only if a majority of the FIFA Member Associations were in support and always subject to a consultation process with them, the FIFA Council, the Confederations and wider stakeholders,” Infantino said in a statement on Friday.

“Having listened carefully to all the views, it has become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place,” he continued. “Our purpose has always been — and will always be — to unite and improve. As a result, this proposal will not proceed.”

The proposed plan would have consisted of FIFA setting up a new entity, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), that would bundle soccer associated money-making operations while a significant stake would be sold to private investors. 20 percent of the company would have been sold to Thrive Capital, an invest group run by Joshua Kushner, the brother of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Backlash was immediate, with European soccer body UEFA saying on Thursday that if the plan went through, it would boycott FIFA events, including the World Cup. Three of the four semi-finalists of the 2026 men’s World Cup hailed from Europe, including this year’s champion, Spain.

Earlier this week, U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham released a statement online that read, “football does not belong to investors. It belongs to the people who fill the stands and who stand on the touchline week in, week out, rain or shine. The World Cup is not a product. It is the greatest competition in world sport, and it was never anyone’s to sell. Dress the deal up however you like. Once you have sold a piece of it, you have sold out.”

Infantino’s statement continued, “Moving forward, my intent is to bring all interested parties back together in the coming days and weeks in the spirit of shared interest in our game, and with the objective to continue growing football everywhere, particularly in those countries that mostly need our support.”

- MCKINLEY FRANKLIN

UEFA VOTES TO BOYCOTT WORLD CUP AHEAD OF PRIVATE INVESTOR FUND

The core investor would be a US investment firm created by Joshua Kushner, the brother of US President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner

US President Donald Trump (right) and Fifa president Gianni Infantino get ready to present the World Cup to Spain in New Jersey. Photo: dpa

Uefa member federations agreed on Thursday to boycott all Fifa competitions in protest of Gianni Infantino’s plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private equity investors.

“Uefa and its national associations will not participate in Fifa competitions,” the European football body said after an urgent online meeting of the 55 members.

“Some things are simply too important to sell,” Uefa said in a statement. “The Fifa World Cup belongs to football. It always will. And so long as Europe has a voice, it will never be for sale.”

The strategy meeting was called to counter Fifa president Infantino’s offer of US$20 million to each of Fifa’s 211 global members that has to be accepted by mid-September.

Infantino’s secret proposal was revealed on Tuesday to spin off its commercial operations in a new US$20 billion subsidiary 20 per cent owned by private investors. The core investor would be a New York investment firm created by Joshua Kushner, the brother of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Fifa president Gianni Infantino has presented the private equity offer as a chance to “turbocharge” funding development of football. Photo: Reuters

“This is not merely a profound failure of leadership, but an abdication of Fifa’s duty as the custodian of world football,” said Uefa, where Infantino was a long-time staffer and its CEO-like general secretary when he was first elected to lead Fifa in 2016.

- Associated Press