Guggenheim’s Walter Is Worth $12 Billion as Dodgers Thrive
- Team’s financial strength make them a perennial contender
- Dodgers’ success has Yankees in unfamiliar role of underdogs
Mark Walter after the Los Angeles Dodgers won the National League Championship Series on Oct. 20.
Photographer: Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
When Mark Walter, founder of investment firm Guggenheim Partners, bought the bankrupt Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012, many thought he’d overpaid. The $2.1 billion was almost double what anyone had ever spent for a sports team, and he had to outbid billionaire hedge funder Steve Cohen to get it.
Few would quibble with the price now. That amount has since been eclipsed nine times in deals for sports franchises, including the $2.4 billion Cohen paid for the New York Mets in 2020, while the Dodgers have gone on to become Major League Baseball’s most perennially competitive team.