Jeanie Buss during the unveiling of a statue of former Lakers coach Pat Riley in Star Plaza in front of Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, Feb. 22, 2026.
Keith Birmingham | MediaNews Group | Pasadena Star-News | Getty Images
A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
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Jerry Buss structured his estate to keep the Los Angeles Lakers in the family after his death. But some of the safeguards meant to preserve that legacy have driven his children apart, according to trusts and estates attorneys.
Five of Buss’ six adult children want to sell the family’s remaining stake in the basketball team, valued by a separate recent transaction at $12.5 billion. Meanwhile, their sister Jeanie contends that her siblings do not have the legal authority to give up ownership and is opposing the sale, which would result in Jeanie Buss losing her position as governor of the Lakers.
The Buss stake in the franchise is owned by a family trust, which includes a “last man standing” clause, as described by sister Janie Buss to ESPN in 2017. That provision transfers a sibling’s equity upon their death to their surviving siblings rather than their own children, incentivizing the siblings to sell during their lifetime, Janie Buss told ESPN at the time.
Steven Fox, partner at Buchalter, said it’s common for parents passing down a business to want to limit the number of stakeholders. However, this type of clause is unusual, he said.
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“I rarely draft that into estate plans, because just because one sibling has cancer and all of a sudden is going to die young, it’s not fair for their children to be divested,” he said. Fox, like the other attorneys who spoke to CNBC, has not seen the terms of the Buss family trust.
While few family businesses are like the Lakers, the broad strokes of the Buss family’s predicament are familiar, according to lawyers who spoke to CNBC. These succession conflicts are also likely to grow more common with the great wealth transfer underway and baby boomers passing on businesses to their children, said Sean Weissbart, partner at Blank Rome LLP.
Trusts and estates attorneys pointed to three steps that can make family business transitions smoother.
Use life insurance to compensate family members
The impulse behind the “last man standing” clause makes sense, Fox said. Without limits on inheriting equity, a family business can end up with dozens of shareholders. However, there are ways to avoid having too many cooks in the kitchen while compensating the next generation fairly, he said.
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Fox and Weissbart each recommended using life insurance to essentially buy grandchildren’s equity. Typically, the trust would take out policies on the children of the patriarch or matriarch. After the child dies, their shares revert to their surviving siblings while the grandchildren receive cash from the life insurance payout.
If the death benefit isn’t sufficient to compensate the grandchildren, the trust can provide them with a secured note, placing a lien on the family business, according to Fox. The secured note can be paid out over time and paid in full if the business is sold.
Even before the business is sold, “there’s plenty of money for them to have a great lifestyle,” he said.
This approach can also be used a generation earlier to buy out children of the wealth creator who do not wish to be involved in the business. However, first-generation entrepreneurs are rarely able or willing to take out expensive life insurance policies while they are still relatively young, according to Fox.
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Limit decision-making power
Jerry Buss divided the family’s controlling stake in the Lakers evenly among his six children, with each child receiving an equal vote. However, he designated Jeanie Buss to replace him as the team’s governor.
According to a letter written by Jeanie Buss’ lawyer, the trust requires two of Jeanie’s siblings and her co-trustees, Janie and Joey, to vote in a way that keeps her ownership above the 15% minimum for team governors.
Lawyers for Jeanie Buss and her siblings did not respond to requests for comment.
It’s common for parents to be torn between wanting to treat their children equally while acknowledging that one child is best-suited to run the business, Weissbart said. However, dividing decision-making power may not be in the children’s best interest, he added. He suggested allocating voting rights to one or two children who are best equipped to run the business while dividing the economic interest equally.
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“Giving people the say over a multibillion-dollar business who don’t know how to actually manage it is detrimental to the business,” he said.
Weissbart and Fox both recommended placing the family business in a trust and naming only one child as trustee with the ability to make managerial decisions.
The shares are pooled into one so-called pot trust, and in the event of a sale, the proceeds are distributed to the individual siblings’ trusts, according to Fox. He said he sometimes adds an independent co-trustee such as an advisor from a bank or an advisory committee.
“It’s so much easier just to have one person dealing with it than to have to gain approvals from various children’s trusts or children themselves,” he said. “Siblings are difficult. We’re talking about a lot of bad blood.”
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Still, Fox said most of his clients prefer a majority-rule approach, which he believes can worsen family ties.
“I always tell clients you’re going to destroy the relationship between your children. Once three of them gang up on one of them, the one that gets outvoted — and the business then gets sold — is going to harbor bad feelings the rest of their life against these three siblings,” he said.
Though Fox and Weissbart were largely in agreement, there isn’t widespread consensus.
George Taylor, partner at Brinkley Morgan, said instead of concentrating power with one sibling, he would recommend giving each child an equal say. Each sibling would be the trustee of an individual trust with equal shares of the business, and they could act through majority when selling.
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“Obviously it’s more common than not that one child is left in control,” he said, “but this would be the ‘let’s get along, Kumbaya’ approach.”
Reconsider children’s involvement in the business
Perhaps the best way to keep a business in the family is to keep family out of managing it, according to Fox.
Keeping a family business through multiple generations is a steep challenge, he said. One of the families he works with has a fourth-generation billion-dollar company, according to Fox. He said their secret to success is that no one in the family is allowed to work for the company.
After the second generation of the family spent 10 years battling in court for control of the company, the third generation amended the shareholder agreement in the ’80s to keep family members out, he said.
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“That doesn’t work for the Lakers, because there’s a lot of swag that goes along with running the Lakers. But it works for some businesses, and it’s worked perfectly for this family,” he said. “I’ve now done that with several clients.”
There’s no silver bullet for keeping children from taking family feuds to court, Fox said. While many trust documents have clauses requiring arbitration or disinheriting children who choose to sue, they are not necessarily enforceable, he said.
“I tell my clients you’re never going to stop your kids and grandkids from suing each other, because they didn’t earn this; it’s inherited,” he said. “You built it up. You took all the risk when you had nothing and were putting everything on your credit card. They don’t have that muscle memory.”
The service is expected to attract business travellers
11:09, 27 Aug 2026Updated 11:19, 27 Aug 2026
A Discover Airlines plane(Image: Bristol Airport)
Bristol Airport is launching a new route to the city of Frankfurt in Germany next year. Discover Airlines, part of Lufthansa Group, will be operating the twice weekly service from May.
The German airline will be offering flights on Mondays and Thursdays, and the route is expected to attract extra business travellers.
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Bristol Airport said the new service would also offer “opportunities” for firms in the South West to connect with businesses in Germany.
Marco Götz, chief commercial officer at Discover Airlines said: “With Bristol, we’re adding our first destination in England to our portfolio.
“As we’re noticing a growing demand for destinations that combine culture, nature and outdoor experiences, Bristol is a perfect fit. The new Discover Airlines route is the only nonstop connection from Frankfurt and connects the South West of England with Germany during summer 2027, making travel to this region even more convenient.”
Kathryn Davis, chief executive of tourism body Visit West, welcomed the news. She said: “We know that there is already strong demand from German visitors to experience the best of Bristol, Bath and the region, and this will be a boost for our visitor economy.
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“Germany is one of the largest markets for inbound tourism, and we look forward to working with Discover Airlines and Bristol Airport, as well as our local business community and trade partners, to ensure that this is a success.”
Rupert Lawrie, commercial director at Bristol Airport, said the transport hub had worked “closely” with Visit West to secure the route.
“This is fantastic news for both our business and leisure customers,” he said. “The new service will compliment increased capacity next year from Germany and Switzerland, enabling even more visitors into the region, which is something the airport is passionate about.”
Frankfurt is known as Germany’s ‘financial capital’ and is located near the world-famous Rhine Valley wine region, the Black Forest and thermal spas. The city’s airport is one of the biggest in Europe with a high-speed train connections to other major European cities.
Keith Buchanan, Globalt Investments senior portfolio manager, discusses the airline industry, JPMorgan and his top market picks for the near future on ‘The Claman Countdown.’
A pair of Democratic lawmakers urged a congressional watchdog on Wednesday to investigate what they described as the Department of Transportation’s failure to ensure privacy of airline passengers, warning that Americans have been exposed to warrantless government surveillance and other privacy violations.
Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden and Ohio Rep. Shontel Brown sent a letter calling on the Government Accountability Office to probe the federal agency, saying it has never brought any enforcement cases linked to passenger data for more than 40 years “despite numerous widely-publicized privacy disasters impacting hundreds of millions of travelers.”
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“US DOT’S abdication of its role as a privacy regulator has left the sensitive personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans exposed to corporate exploitation, warrantless government surveillance, and warrantless seizure of money and other property,” the letter states, adding that travel data held by airlines and travel agencies “may be of interest to foreign adversaries.”
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., questions Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin as he testifies before the Senate Finance Committee Feb. 12, 2020, in Washington, D.C. (Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images / Getty Images)
The Government Accountability Office confirmed it has received the lawmakers’ demand, according to Reuters.
In 2024, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg opened a review into how the 10 largest U.S. airlines collect and use passenger information.
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But two years later, the lawmakers said “it remains entirely unclear whether a meaningful review ever took place.”
According to the lawmakers, the Department of Transportation did not make airlines’ response letters public and did not announce public findings or seek any subsequent enforcement actions.
Rep. Shontel Brown speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Jan. 15, 2026. (Reuters/Annabelle Gordon / Reuters Photos)
The lawmakers wrote that the Airlines Reporting Corporation — collectively owned by major U.S. airlines — sold access for years to a massive database with roughly 722 million passenger travel records to federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and IRS without warrants or court oversight.
In November of last year, the Airline Reporting Corporation put an end to the sale of passenger records to the government, but DHS issued a public request this year to government contractors for a replacement airline passenger surveillance system.
The lawmakers’ letter also pointed to a 2016 Justice Department audit finding that the Drug Enforcement Administration had paid airline employees millions of dollars for access to some Americans’ private passenger data.
Mishandling consumers’ private information could be considered an unfair or deceptive practice by airlines, which could potentially lead to civil penalties.
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FOX Business has reached out to the Department of Transportation for comment.
Costco is now offering delivery for its famous sheet cakes and party platters, giving shoppers a major convenience perk when ordering customizable items.
Instacart, Costco’s primary delivery partner, announced Wednesday that shoppers can now order bakery and deli options through its marketplace and SameDay Costco and customize them in advance for delivery.
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The newly available items include its beloved custom sheet cakes and 10-inch round cakes. Customers can also order sandwich platters, shrimp trays and fruit platters.
The move marks a significant expansion of Costco’s digital offerings for the fan-favorite products, which were previously unavailable for online ordering until February, when Costco retired a decades-old system that required customers to visit a warehouse and fill out paper order forms.
Newly available items include custom sheet cakes and 10-inch round cakes, Costco and Instacart said. (Marlene Awaad/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
“For nearly a decade, we’ve worked closely with Costco to expand the ways their members can shop online, and this is another exciting step in that partnership,” Ryan Hamburger, chief commercial officer at Instacart, said in a statement.
“We’re proud to bring Costco’s beloved made-to-order bakery and deli to sameday.costco.com and the Instacart marketplace, making delivery available for the first time and giving members even more ways to order for life’s biggest celebrations.”
Instacart, Costco’s primary delivery partner, announced shoppers can order the bakery and deli options through its marketplace and SameDay Costco. (Instacart)
According to Instacart, shoppers can choose the size, shape and flavor of their cake from a catalog of available options.
They can also select from a preset list of designs and add a message of up to 30 characters in a color of their choice.
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The move marks a significant expansion of Costco’s digital offerings for fan-favorite products. (Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group / Getty Images)
Wednesday’s announcement builds on Instacart’s longstanding partnership with Costco, which began in 2017 with the launch of same-day delivery.
‘The Big Money Show’ reacts to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent moving to expand long-term bond buybacks as Fed Chair Kevin Warsh faces inflation concerns, potential rate hikes and $40 trillion in U.S. debt.
Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh is set to deliver the first keynote speech of his chairmanship at the annual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium on Friday amid uncertainty over stubborn inflation.
Policymakers from the Fed and various central banks around the world will gather in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to discuss monetary policy and the economy, with Warsh delivering his widely anticipated speech on Friday morning.
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Warsh, who was confirmed as Fed chair in May and has since led his first two monetary policy meetings, has taken steps to end the use of forward guidance about future policy moves, including the removal of forward-looking comments from post-meeting statements and having a panel review Fed communications.
Given his reluctance to engage in forward guidance, Warsh’s speech will be closely watched for any signals that may offer insights into how his leadership will impact the Federal Reserve’s operations and how policymakers approach interest rate decisions.
Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh will deliver a highly-anticipated keynote address at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium on Friday. (Li Yuanqing/Xinhua via Getty Images)
Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY-Parthenon, told FOX Business that there’s a “tremendous degree of uncertainty as to what he will or won’t say” in his first Jackson Hole speech.
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“I think there is tremendous appetite, at the same time, for him to clarify some of his views, come back down to earth when it comes to his communication around economic data, around inflation, around employment and around policy,” Daco added.
He said Warsh could provide “some sort of framework guidance that would help assuage market fears that he’s completely detached from traditional policymaking, and that he’s not necessarily looking at economic data as the right levers to be conducting monetary policy.”
Daco pointed to developments in the bond market, where yields are near recent highs, as showing a desire for more guidance because “part of the recent rise in yields has been tied to this lack of credibility around policymaking at the Fed, and in particular, a lack of transparency from the Fed chair.”
Fed Chair Kevin Warsh was confirmed to the role in May and has since led two FOMC meetings ahead of his Jackson Hole keynote debut. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Daco noted that while Warsh has said the Fed will deliver 2% inflation amid above-target readings, he also said at the most recent press conference after the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) left rates unchanged that he sees this as a period of “watchful thinking” and observing data to assess inflation’s impact.
Additionally, he pointed to Warsh’s comments in June that markets and Treasury yields were signaling investors were convinced inflation was coming down, and then in July he said the higher yields were contributing to the Fed’s tighter policy.
“You can’t have both, right? If you want a pure signal from markets, you have to be honest about what markets are signaling, and I think that hasn’t occurred so far,” Daco said.
At the FOMC’s most recent meeting in July, policymakers left the benchmark federal funds rate unchanged at a range of 3.5% to 3.75%, following a 9-3 vote with a trio of dissenters voting in favor of a 25-basis-point rate hike amid elevated inflation.
Inflation data has remained stubbornly high, with the Fed’s preferred gauge – the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index – remaining at 3.7% year over year for the headline figure in July, while core PCE, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was also flat at 3.3%.
Both figures are well above the Fed’s 2% inflation target, which has led the market to see a 25-basis-point hike before the end of the year as the likeliest outcome. The CME FedWatch tool shows a 45% chance of a hike by the FOMC’s December meeting, compared to a 27.3% chance of rates holding steady through the end of the year.
Daco said that his firm continues to think the Fed will remain on hold for the rest of the year, saying that policymakers are likely to remain cautious but won’t necessarily favor hiking rates in the next few meetings.
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He added that in keeping with Warsh’s aversion to forward guidance, he’s likely to avoid boxing himself into an interest rate move with his remarks during his Friday keynote speech in Wyoming.
“I doubt he’s going to want to confirm in any way, shape or form any future action. He’s going to talk about a good policy fight at the FOMC table, and he’s not going to want to essentially corner himself into any particular decision when it comes to September,” Daco said.
A Best Buy logo sign is seen in Chicago, Illinois, United States, on July 29, 2026.
Marcin Golba | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Best Buy on Thursday reported better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter results and raised its full-year outlook as the company’s recovery showed more signs of taking hold.
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The consumer electronics retailer said it saw comparable sales growth of 4.1% during the second quarter, compared to its previous outlook of just 1%, and saw a “higher-than-expected” adjusted operating income rate. Best Buy said it drove growth across all of its major categories, with a surge in computing contributing to that strength.
Best Buy also raised its full fiscal year financial guidance due to what incoming CEO Jason Bonfig called its“strong first half performance.” The company now expects revenue of between $42.3 billion and $42.8 billion, compared to prior guidance of a range between $41.2 billion to $42.1 billion. It also anticipates comparable sales will climb 1.9% to 3%, compared to prior expectations of between a decline of 1% and increase of 1%.
Best Buy said it now expects adjusted earnings per share for the year to be between $6.70 and $6.90, compared to prior guidanceof between $6.30 and $6.60 per share.
The company also said its gross profit rate for the quarter included a $34 million benefit from tariff refunds.
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Here’s how the company performed in its second fiscal quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, according to a survey of analysts by LSEG:
Earnings per share: $1.47 adjusted vs. $1.38 expected
Revenue: $9.78 billion vs. $9.59 billion expected
For the quarter ended Aug. 1, Best Buy reported net income of $315 million, or $1.48 per share, compared with $186 million, or 87 cents per share, the year prior. Adjusting for one-time items, Best Buy reported adjusted earnings of $1.47 per share.
The earnings marked the last quarter of reporting under current CEO Corie Barry. Bonfig will take over the reins of the company on Nov. 1, a leadership change that was part of a broader strategy to accelerate Best Buy’s business.
“The strength of our Q2 results reflects both the deliberate actions we have taken to position the business for growth and a healthy demand environment for our category,” Bonfig said in a statement.
The company reiterated that customers continue to spend, though they are still focused on value and sales.
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The consumer electronics retailer has also been hit by tariffs and the soaring price of memory chips. Best Buy said on Thursday that it’s continuing to navigate those industry-wide challenges and sees customers shopping with specific needs and budgets.
Best Buy has been in a sales slump after it reported declining foot traffic and lower consumer confidence in recent quarters. Bonfig previously told CNBC he’s confident in his abilities to refresh the company and its products and enhance the customer experience.
Part of that strategy has been opening smaller format stores in an effort to expand Best Buy’s presence in areas that can’t sustain a full-sized location. Bonfig also said he plans to leverage artificial intelligence to improve the store experience and corporate processes.
Rescuers are racing against time to locate the missing in a remote, high-altitude region popular with trekkers and religious pilgrims, an area that includes hundreds of foreign nationals from India, the United States, Britain, Australia and Canada.
What triggered the disaster
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The flood struck Wednesday, sending a massive wall of water and debris crashing down mountain valleys as people scrambled to flee. Trucks were overturned, and houses, roads and power infrastructure were destroyed across the affected region in Nepal, while officials in Tibet warned of feared “major casualties” after a mudslide struck a border land crossing.
Early reports from Nepali officials initially suggested a magnitude-4.4 earthquake may have caused part of a glacier to collapse and trigger the flooding. But the U.S. Geological Survey later determined that what had been reported as an earthquake was in fact a seismic shock generated by the collapse of glacial rock and ice, followed by a debris flow. No actual earthquake had occurred.
An initial analysis of satellite imagery from Planet Labs indicated that a landslide of ice and rock triggered the debris-laden flood in the Lhende River, located roughly 20 kilometers, or about 12 miles, northeast of the Rasuwagadhi border crossing between Nepal and China, according to Nepal’s national disaster authority. Experts have pointed to the extreme topography of the Himalayas as a factor that compounds the risk of such catastrophic events.
Scale of the missing
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Nepali police and tourism officials said almost 600 foreigners were among 826 people reported missing in Nepal alone. Among the unaccounted for were 177 people from India, 63 from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 25 from Canada.
On the Tibet side of the border, Chinese state media reported that at least 558 people were missing, including at least 260 foreign nationals. Nepali police said 165 bodies had been recovered by late Wednesday, while Chinese state media reported three deaths on the Tibet side.
Many of the victims were believed to have been on pilgrimages to Kailash Mansarovar, a revered high-altitude site in Tibet considered sacred by Hindus, Buddhists and others.
Harrowing accounts from survivors
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Survivors described the flood’s sudden and overwhelming force. Bibek Kumal, a laborer working downstream from the hard-hit Rasuwa district near Nepal’s Himalayan border with Tibet, said he began running as soon as he heard what sounded like an earthquake, only to see a wall of water thundering toward him. He said the torrent swept him downstream through mud and debris, and that he survived only by clinging to a mango tree. “Had there been no mango tree, I would have been washed away to death,” he said from his hospital bed.
Keshav Prasad Baral, a 68-year-old survivor being treated at a small hospital, described watching a huge surge of mud rise higher and higher as it approached. He said he tried to pull his wife to safety on a terrace, but she was swept away in the mud before a helicopter arrived to rescue him hours later. He said she remained missing, buried somewhere beneath the debris.
Rescue and relief efforts underway
Helicopters hovered over the disaster zone throughout the day Wednesday, ferrying survivors out of areas cut off by the flooding. In Tibet, officials mobilized nearly 800 emergency workers along with 150 vehicles, sniffer dogs and speed boats to assist search-and-rescue operations, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported.
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The head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, David Fisher, said entire villages and market areas had been wiped out by the disaster. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said U.N. teams and partner organizations were mobilizing supplies and personnel to support affected communities in Nepal. The U.S. government said it would provide $500,000 in emergency assistance.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said the most urgent priority was doing everything possible to locate and rescue those still missing.
Families searching for answers
In the hard-hit districts of Nuwakot and Dhading, families gathered outside a Nepali army training center that has served as the base for helicopter rescue operations, seeking any information about missing relatives. Police recorded the names of the missing just outside the barracks gate, working by mobile phone light after the area lost electricity due to damaged hydroelectric infrastructure.
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The tour operator Himalayan Glacier said 47 people, including two children, were missing from one of its trekking groups in Nepal. Managing director Sanket Pandey said the group included 15 Australians, 10 Canadians, nine Nepalis, eight Americans, two Britons, two Singaporeans and one dual Russian-American citizen.
International reaction
Governments around the world responded to news of missing citizens. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his thoughts were with families anxious about loved ones, acknowledging that obtaining reliable information about the status of the missing remained difficult given the scale of the disaster and the damage to local infrastructure.
With power out across large parts of the affected region and communication severely disrupted, authorities warned that both the death toll and the number of confirmed missing could continue to shift as rescue teams reach more remote areas. Search efforts were expected to continue in the days ahead, with international aid organizations and foreign governments coordinating additional support for what officials described as one of the deadliest glacial flood disasters to strike the Himalayan region in recent memory.
Deloitte has agreed to pay nearly $21.5 million to settle allegations that it defrauded the federal government by continuing to consider diversity when making hiring, promotion and staffing decisions.
It is the latest settlement stemming from investigations the Trump administration launched last year in a broad effort to root out diversity initiatives at major U.S. companies that contract with the federal government.
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