Who is Josh Kushner, the billionaire who just bought the Lakers?
By Jordan Valinsky, Ramishah Maruf, CNN
New York (CNN) — 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.
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.
The-CNN-Wire
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