SAN DIEGO (AP) — Joey and Jesse Buss are part of the San Diego Padres' new ownership group led by José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones.
The youngest Buss heirs' participation in the group already had been widely reported by The Associated Press and other outlets, but they confirmed it Wednesday in a statement to ESPN.
Joey and Jesse Buss, who grew up in San Diego County, were executives with the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers before their family sold its majority ownership stake to Mark Walter last year. Walter also is the owner of the back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, the Padres' longtime archrivals in the NL West.
The ownership group led by private equity billionaire Feliciano and Jones is closing its purchase of the Padres this month at an MLB-record valuation of $3.9 billion.
The Buss brothers formed Buss Sports Capital last year to invest their substantial windfall from the sale of the Lakers, who were then flipped by Walter this month to a group led by Josh Kushner and Bob Iger.
The Buss brothers confirmed their new venture with the Padres one week after five of the six Buss heirs voted to sell their 17.8% minority ownership stake in the Lakers to Kushner and Iger.
Jeanie Buss, the Lakers' governor since the death of their father in 2013, is contesting her five siblings' desire to sell its remaining interest in the NBA franchise purchased by Jerry Buss in 1979.
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From leftSan Diego Padres' Xander Bogaerts, Jackson Merrill and Jase Bowen celebrate after the team defeated the Minnesota Twins in a baseball game Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Derrick Tuskan)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A man accused of arranging the fatal shooting of a Microsoft design manager on a Florida road was convicted Wednesday in a murder-for-hire scheme fueled by a stormy child custody arrangement between the victim and his wealthy ex-wife.
Jared Bridegan was shot four years ago after he got out of his SUV to remove a tire from a road in Jacksonville Beach. The attack stumped police for months as they struggled to understand why someone with no apparent enemies would be killed while his daughter sat nearby in her car seat.
Prosecutors believe he was killed because of ongoing strife with his former wife over the parenting of their twins.
Mario Fernandez Saldana, 38, was convicted of first-degree murder and solicitation of murder. He’s married to Bridegan’s former wife, Shanna Gardner, whose trial is set to start in September.
Bridegan was “unarmed, unaware, exposed, vulnerable. He couldn’t have known, on that cold asphalt in February of 2022, the architects of his murder had been making preparations for his death for months,” Assistant State Attorney Christina Stifler said during closing arguments.
Defense attorney Jesse Dreicer told jurors that Fernandez Saldana had no motive to have Bridegan killed. Fernandez Saldana and Gardner are estranged, and Gardner moved to Washington state after the killing.
“He certainly gained no benefit from the death of Jared Bridegan,” Dreicer said, noting there was no testimony that Fernandez Saldana told anyone that Bridegan “deserves to die.”
The alleged gunman, Henry Tenon, had no personal connection to Bridegan, but he was a former tenant at Fernandez Saldana’s rental property in Jacksonville. Jurors saw three checks totaling $10,000 written to Tenon after the homicide, marked as payments for handyman work and a business idea.
Tenon’s DNA was identified on the rim of the tire that was intentionally placed in the road, police said.
Tenon, 65, initially pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Fernandez Saldana, but he later backed out of the deal and will stand trial next year.
Gardner, 39, is the daughter of the co-founder of Stampin’ Up!, an arts-and-crafts company based in Utah.
Bridegan was shot twice when he stopped his Volkswagen Atlas to remove a tire from the road. He had just returned two children to Gardner's home after a “date night” meal with the twins. At the time of his death, he was married to Kirsten Bridegan and they had two children.
Kirsten Bridegan told the jury that the post-divorce relationship between her husband and Gardner was “pretty terrible,” adding there was “absolutely no trust.”
Kirsten Bridegan reacts on the witness stand in the trial of Mario Fernandez Saldana at the Duval County Courthouse, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. (Corey Perrine/The Florida Times-Union via AP, Pool)
Defense Attorney Jesse Dreicer gaves the closing arguments for the defense in the the Mario Fernandez Saldana trial Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026 at the Duval Count Courthouse in Jacksonville, Fla. [Doug Engle/The Florida Times-Union via AP, Pool)
Assistant State Attorney Christina Stifler presents her closing arguments during the Mario Fernandez Saldana trial, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026 at the Duval Count Courthouse in Jacksonville, Fla. [Doug Engle/The Florida Times-Union via AP, Pool)
Defense Attorney James Hill, left walks in his client, defendant Mario Fernandez Saldana, during his trial on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026 at the Duval Count Courthouse in Jacksonville, Fla. [Doug Engle/The Florida Times-Union via AP, Pool)
