Hollywood Handbook - Introducing: L.A. World

Episode Date: August 21, 2026

L.A. World is a new weekly podcast that cuts through the noise to help you understand everything you need to know about what's happening in Los Angeles.  Every episode, hosts Hayes Davenport and Antonia Cereijido team up with the newsroom at L.A. Material and Editor-In-Chief, Julia Turner, to walk you through the top L.A. stories you should be tracking, and deep dive into whatever's dominating the headlines (or our group chats). Make sure to subscribe to catch new episodes!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The cast of Frozen stopped by, Kristen Bell, Josh Gad, and Adina Mansell. I audition for Frozen. What? For Christoph. They said, okay, what are you going to be singing today? I said, I don't know. That must have been why you didn't get it. Oh, you probably won't.

Plus, John Stamos, Hayden Christensen from Star Wars and more. And I guess I can share that... No way. to the latest episode of Hey Jonas on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, Handbookheads, it's Hayes. Well, I went and did it again. I went and started a local news company. Will I ever learn? It's called LA Material. We've got a new podcast. It's called LA World. We take three big stories from what's going on that week in LA, and we pick them apart. We explain them to you. It's a fun show.

decided to drop it in here for you to listen to because I thought you might enjoy it. And also because when we launched, we were in the top 200 news podcast for one second. And I got to get back in there. You know how important that is to me. And so this is an excerpt from the show. We're talking about sports. We're talking about the Lakers and the Dodgers and financial alleged crimes. I hope you listen to it.

I hope you subscribe to L.A. World, even if you don't live in L.A., we all love stories. Give it a chance. I think you'll like it a lot. Thank you so much. Always appreciate all your support, all these many years. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This is L.A. World. Hey, sports. Sports. Man, oh, man, is it ever sports today? So this story is about the Lakers and the Dodgers, two of maybe the five most important. important teams in American sports. Absolutely. And obviously in the cultural map of L.A., like, there's nothing bigger than these two teams.

Until last week, they were functionally owned by the same guy, Mark Walter, a nuclearly boring businessman. But he's from Chicago. And until last week, he owned a controlling share of both teams. He bought the Dodgers in 2012 and the Lakers just last year in 2025. But Mark Walter got less boring a few weeks ago when it was reported that his business empire was being investigated by the federal government. What for? Let's lock in.

Well, I explained intricate financial complexities, no hitting the 15 second back button. So in addition to sports teams and other businesses, Mark Walter owns two insurance companies. Those insurance companies are called Delaware Life and Clear Spring. Walter's Business Empire, it's under the Guggenheim umbrella, it owns two insurance companies. Insurance companies sit on a ton of money. Millions of policyholders are making their payments. They usually don't get their money back for a long time. These insurance companies specialize in annuities, which are basically retirement funds.

So in the meantime, they have Scrooge McDuck coin pool of policyholder money that they're just sitting on. So what do they do with that money? They invest it. That is how these companies make money. Sometimes they invest in other companies under the same ownership umbrella, basically distributing loans around the business empire. That is pretty normal. These are called related party transactions.

They're just supposed to be reported because investors need to know if too much risk is being gathered under one umbrella. Empires fall. You want your risk to be distributed. across multiple places. And the companies have been reporting that a small percentage of their loans, their investments, were to these related parties. Three to five percent, they were saying, were going to Mark Walter related businesses.

Then the federal government starts looking into this, and the insurance companies report that, oops, they say the related party transactions were actually more like 40 or 50 percent. A lot bigger than three percent. It's a lot bigger than three to five percent. Like in the case of one of these companies, half of their investments were going out to other businesses in the Walter universe. So in total, about $20 billion worth of policyholder money going out to other businesses in Mark Walter's orbit that were incorrectly reported as being loans to unrelated companies

and kind of funneled through SPV, special purpose vehicles, companies that only are propped up to pass this money through to other Walter. companies. This was part of a larger investigation, the result of a larger investigation that also involved the feds raiding a private plane in 2025, taking Mark Walter's phone. They said, give me that. They also took the phone of the president of his company, Guggenheim Investments, on the same day.

It was not boring. This guy suddenly is becoming a very intriguing figure. Then it was announced last week that Mark Walter, decided to sell the Lakers, the team that he had bought one year earlier at a $10 billion valuation. Now he's selling it to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner at a $12.5 billion valuation.

So now people are really starting to report on this federal investigation. It used to be, you know, people are like, what's going on it? You know, some like financial thing. Is this really a big deal? Selling the Lakers after one year implies that this is pretty serious.

And there is a lot of speculations. that the sale was to free up assets in Walter's business, especially that it's been reported that Walter is going around trying to scrounge together some money to cover these loans that he made from his insurance companies. So before we launched this podcast last week, we recorded a few dry run episodes where we actually We dug into stories. We talked about them as if we were doing a real podcast and we talked with each other to kind of test this format and make sure that the cameras worked or whatever, which they didn't a lot of the time. You are my witnesses that I did a segment about the investigation into Mark Walter weeks before.

Weeks. He sold the Lakers. And if we had launched a few weeks earlier, I could have looked pretty smart. You could have really put one over. ignoring the fact that in that test episode, you, Julia, asked me how this could affect the Dodgers and Lakers, and I said probably not much. We could have cut it before that.

That's true. So I'm not going to get infinite chances to look smart of this thing. So today we are getting ahead of this story and we're going to talk about how this could touch the Dodgers. Oh my God, I'd almost forgotten about the Dodgers at this point. And Dodgers... He still owns a team. Mark Walter still has the controlling share in the Dodgers.

Also, Dodgers, much higher at the current moment in the Pantheon of American sports than the Lakers. Totally. He's winning a lot more than the Lakers are for sure. Can I tell you a very brief sad story about the Dodgers? Yeah, sure. My son is a Mets fan. The Mets are going to come up later in the story. He told me that his fondest hope is for the Mets to be good enough during this stretch and his team that when

they make the documentary about how good the Dodgers are, the Mets are the main other team. That's like his highest hope for the Mets and a very unlikely one. Well, let me tell you how that might happen in a little bit. So we're recording this on Tuesday morning. The news is coming fast and furious. The Financial Times reported on Monday that Mark Walter and his often partner Todd Bolley are shopping their shares in Chelsea, the English Premier League soccer team. This is one of their other premium sports assets.

So this is all based on what we know right now. Stuff is happening really fast. You may have heard that the Dodgers are, quote, ruining baseball. I have heard that. They have the highest payroll. They were able to, I mean, in this trade deadline, they got Terrick Scoobel, the best pitcher on the market. They got the best hitter on the market, the best closer on the market. And last offseason, Kyle Tucker and Edwin Diaz, they both stink now.

But the point is that they can sustain signing those guys and them stinking and still be like, like a great team because they spend way more money than everyone else. The team, as a team, they make tons of money. There's so much because of Otani. There's so much money coming from Japan now. And Hello Kitty. And Hello Kitty, of course. They could even sign Hello Kitty.

This was like, you know. I think people would love a- Wine. I could bat ninth. She could bat ninth. They'd probably be fine. And Hello Kitty I learned is actually a human, canonically a human. Is that true?

Yeah, that's what I learned. So could play baseball. They could play baseball. There's nothing in the rulebook that says, Hello Kitty, can't play baseball. Their payroll is the highest ever, but that's driven by these extremely high revenues that they have, which is in turn driven by an amazing windfall TV deal that they got when Walter was buying the team as an indirect result of previous owner, Frank McCourt's divorce proceedings and ultimately bankruptcy proceedings. That deal is, it's its own episode, but suffice it to say, like, this TV deal, is one of the big separators of the Dodgers from the rest of the league.

This is a detail from these insurance companies and their financial statements that I'm personally very curious about. Those debts from the insurance companies, those loans that were incorrectly labeled, they said we're investing in unaffiliated companies. They were actually affiliated. What are those companies, right? It hasn't been reported yet anywhere definitively. The investigation hasn't said, like, we're curious. about the money going to these parts of Walter's huge empire.

Exactly. Based on the company's own filings, hundreds of millions of dollars of those incorrectly labeled affiliated investments went to American Media Productions, which is the parent company of Sportsnet, LA, the Dodgers regional TV channel. So Sportsnet, L.A. is owned by Mark Walter, owned by the Dodgers ownership group. It was basically created to be a vessel for this TV deal. And a substacker named Nick Nemith, whose substack is called mispriced assets, he found that there was $587 million in debt holdings from Walter-related insurance companies

that were marked unaffiliated, that this money was going to American Media Productions. And the Wall Street Journal has noted these holdings as well. So when you hear Walter was using this insurance company money to invest in his own companies and not reporting it correctly, a big one of those companies was the Dodgers TV network. It gets weirder still. You talked about rating agencies. Thank you for introducing Fitch earlier.

I thought I was going to introduce this from scratch. That's really what this show, you know, the way to the top of the News 200 is to get way in on bond rating agencies. So the Wall Street Journal found that Mark Walter and his companies disproportionately use this one ratings agency to rate their debt. You've heard of like Fitch and Moody's and Standard & Poor's. Wall Street Journal found that they use a company called Egan Jones a lot. And they used it to rate their American Media Productions debt, the SportsNet Company debt.

And Egan Jones gave this debt, gave American Media Productions a BBB, which is just barely investment grade. It's one notch above junk. Two former employees are suing Egan Jones at the like, the, like, the, like, the, at the same time, saying that the company pressured staff to inflate ratings to gain business. In this specific case or across the board? Across the board. And a Wall Street Journal analysis showed that across 52 cases they looked at where a debt had been rated by two different agencies,

Egan Jones ratings were on average a point higher than their peers. And in dozens of cases, they were three points higher. And the Wall Street Journal in this article really focuses on the American media debt and the way that I feel like, papers do when they want to show that they've got something, even if they can't tell the whole story. So hundreds of millions of loans to the Dodgers TV channel sitting on their insurance company's books mislabeled as an unrelated transaction, even though the same guy owns all of it, also hired a rating agency that allegedly had a reputation for inflation that rated these debts as just above junk. If that rating was inflated, it would take it from junk to

barely investment grade. So Walter's group is now looking to unwind these affiliated investments. What does unwinding $537 million in debt from Sportsnet look like for the channel and for the Dodgers? I don't know. I don't know if this is one of the investments that they're attempting to unwind. But if they hold on to this sports net debt and it's found to be mispriced, that's more money that he needs to claw back to keep his insurance companies out of receivership, keep this from like spreading across the whole Guggenheim Empire. And his search for money is not going great by all accounts. He went to

Steve Cohen, the billionaire hedge fund guy who owns the Mets. And he asked if Steve Cohen would help him raise capital to pay down these loans. And Steve Cohen basically told him, don't let the door hit you where the good lord split you. And according to the Financial Times, they say a person familiar with the matter told the financial times that saying no was a quick and easy decision to pass on helping. They're like, we don't want to have anything to do with that guy. This is a, you know, a rival. This is a billionaire baseball rivalry.

Yeah. I mean, maybe the conversation was like, give me the Dodgers. So I'll make them, you know. I can make them as bad as the Mets. So on August 12th, the L.A. Times. report that sources say Mark Walter has no intention of selling the Dodgers. That was August 12th. Watch them have sold by the type this episode goes out. I want to invite anyone who is curious to look into this relationship, especially someone that really knows about finance.

I'm a liberal arts major. This relationship between Mark Walter's insurance companies and this American Media production's debt, it's all in their public status. and share your findings with me in the hashtag sports channel and the LA Material Forum after you become a member of LA Material at LAMaterial.com slash upgrade. I will be talking about it in there. And right here, if you have any extra questions. What does this mean for Lakers fans and Dodgers fans? I'll tell you, for the when it comes to, well, the Lakers are getting new owners.

We're figuring out exactly who they are because Bob Iger and Josh Kushner are buying. Mark Walters and Todd Bowles and like that group's share of the team. But now the bus family, a majority of them, has said that they want to sell their share as well. Jeannie Bus, however, the sister who was kind of a point as like governor of the team said, I don't want to sell. We're not selling. I'm governor for life legally. That family drama is also another episode unto itself.

Jerry Bus, Dr. Jerry Bus said he was worried when he was alive that when he passed ownership of the team would divide his children. And that did come to pass. As documented in the documentary series that would be Kailing Running Point. That's right. Yeah. I mean, not really. It's a delightful sitcom. Kate Hudson plays Jeannie Bus type.

Yeah. But I haven't watched the show. So what could happen to the Dodgers? You know, if the team isn't sold. the Dodgers Dodgers fans have recent memory of what it's like having an owner

that is embroiled in really serious financial issues Frank McCourt got a divorce that if there is a divorce Hall of Fame it has a little special exhibit

and that did end up manifesting in less money going towards the team But if they decided to take more revenue out, that's money that could potentially less money could be spent on the team. They could also end up with new ownership that has a different approach to managing the franchise. Like ownership matters a great deal. But do you think like new ownership could mean that this like glorious age of Dodger like dominant? Ruining, baseball ruining.

It's that combined with a lot of different other factors that are happening at the same time. People are talking about a strike next year in MLB, like in part because of the Dodgers ruining baseball. And part of what's being discussed in MLB is a salary cap, which they don't have now that basically says you're only allowed to spend this much money on payroll. And having, you know, an owner like Mark Walter, who was a pretty powerful voice when it came to these negotiations, be preoccupied with some other stuff. It does change some dynamics in those negotiations. There might be less big spending representation at the table if he's tied up doing other things. Yeah. And it does.

And also, if he is. criminally charged, if that happens, there are provisions that can force a sale of the, like, like morality clauses, basically. The league ownership is allowed to come in and say, like, hey, you have to offload this team. What is Walter said publicly about the investigation? Does he had any comment yet? He does. I mean, this is, like, before and after the investigation, he was not a talking guy, really. And, you know, this is. But there's no lawyers being like, Mr. Walter, blah, blah, blah. Oh, yeah. They say everything was, everything that was mislabeled was an accident. They're working with regulators to get it straightened out. He has no intention of selling the Dodgers. So it's hard to predict based on statements exactly what's going to happen. There's also more and more reporting now. The Wall Street Journal covered it. Mark Walter had a stroke a few years ago. And it has affected his speech, according to people inside the organization.

There are also people inside the organization that are talking about, like, they're questioning his judgment a little more per this Wall Street Journal reporting from this week. So it's a rich, thick soup. Do they sell soup at Dodger Stadium? Can't think of. They sell a lot of stuff at Dodger Stadium. I'm always amazed. I'm sure there's some kind of, like, famous Dodger Stadium soup that I could have used for the analogy. Hot Dog doesn't really work. Well, hey, thank you so much.

A frothy michelada. Thank you for listening. It's a frothy Michelada. Thank you. Perfect. Same by the bell. Wow. Okay.

Super interesting. Thank you, Hayes. Thank you. That's LA World. Thank you so much for listening. If you're able to give it a subscribe, give it a rating, give it a review. Very gratitude, very power as well. Throw a little handbook inside joke in there so they know who sent you.

Thank you so much again. really appreciate you. I will see you on some podcast or another very soon. Did you hear the new episode of the Hey Jonas podcast? We are at D23. So we'll see who stops by. The cast of Frozen stopped by, Kristen Bell, Josh Gad, and Adina Mansell. I audition for Frozen. What? For Christoph. They said, okay, what are you going to be singing today? I said, I don't know.

That must have been why you didn't get it. Oh, you probably won. Plus, John Stamos, Hayden Christensen from Star Wars and more. And I guess I can share that... No way. the latest episode of Hey Jonas on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle.

I chose option B. I'm Julie Pinero, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word Solita. trading the pity for possibility. Listen to Solita on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Hoda Kotbby, host of the podcast, Joy 101 with Hoda Kotbby. You know, I'm always searching for inspiration and useful tools to maximize joy. Like when my friend Henry Winkler offered advice to aspiring actors and really anybody hoping to stand out. You're not hired just to fill time and space.

You're hired to fill the space. with you. Listen to Joy 101 with Hoda Kotby on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Our hometown is not a test tube. 90 miles northeast of Nashville, a battle for the future of America plays out in one small town. Developers with right-wing ties have purchased hundreds of acres of land. We need cities on a shining hill. This is our town, a podcast about what happens when a small town becomes the site of a social experiment and fights back. Guess you didn't move in on a bunch of dumb hillbillies now, did you? Listen to Our Town on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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