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It’s a whole new ballgame at Oracle Park.

Thrive Eternal, the holding company founded by Joshua Kushner, has agreed to purchase a minority stake in the San Francisco Giants. Kushner is the brother of Jared, the son-in-law of President Trump.

The Giants’ ownership group, which includes more than 30 principal partners, took on its first private equity investment when Arctos Sports Partners purchased a stake in 2021. Four years later, Sixth Street bought into the ownership group. President of baseball operations Buster Posey is also a minority owner. 

Historically, venture capital has existed to invest in companies with an eventual exit, such as an IPO or acquisition, in mind. In a sign that Thrive is diversifying its business, Kushner announced on Friday the creation of an entity called Thrive Eternal in an X post, calling it a “permanent capital holding company that will be concentrated in a small number of assets that we can own and steward over many decades.” 

The Giants are Thrive Eternal’s first partner.

“We have reached an agreement for Thrive Eternal to join our investor group, subject to MLB approval,” Giants spokesperson Shana Daum said in a statement. “We are thrilled with the prospect of Eternal becoming a long-term partner of the Giants.”

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The Giants, valued last month by Forbes at $4.05 billion — MLB’s fifth-most valuable franchise — have been open to new investments in recent years. The ownership group, led by chairman Greg Johnson, took control in 1993 after previous owner Bob Lurie initially agreed to sell the club to an ownership group that planned to move the team to St. Petersburg, Florida.

In January, St. Louis billionaire Richard Chaifetz also bought an undisclosed minority stake in the Giants.

This is not the first time the Giants have courted professional investment firms. Last year, private equity firm Sixth Street — which also owns the NWSL team Bay FC — purchased a 10% stake in the Giants. The team said that infusion of cash was directed toward upgrades at Oracle Park and the team’s Mission Rock office and residential development across McCovey Cove. 

Last year, the Giants also purchased the historic Curran Theater from Carole Shorenstein Hays, whose father Walter helped keep the team in San Francisco in 1993. The team has committed to keeping the venue open through its current programming season and will take on a more active role in booking it in the future. 

Major League Baseball changed its ownership rules in 2019 to become the first American sports league to allow private equity firms to acquire up to 30% of teams. The majority of sports teams are still owned by high-net worth individuals or families.

Thrive reportedly raised $10 billion (opens in new tab) in a fundraising round earlier this year.

As the Giants have opened the door to venture capital investments, fans have voiced criticism of the team’s unwillingness to compete with the Dodgers and other top spenders to sign the best free agents. According to Spotrac, San Francisco has MLB’s 13th-highest payroll this season and the fourth-highest in the National League West, trailing the Dodgers (No. 1 overall), Padres (No. 7), and Diamondbacks (No. 12).

The Giants signed Willy Adames to a seven-year, $182 million contract in December 2024 and traded for Rafael Devers — who was owed more than $250 million over eight-plus years at the time of the deal — in June 2025, but didn’t sign any free agents to long-term contracts last offseason. 

Friday’s agreement between the Giants and Thrive continues a trend in which Bay Area sports franchises are welcoming more professional investment capital partners. 

Private equity firm Arctos Sports Partners also purchased a stake in the Warriors in 2021 and later that year increased its share from 5% to 13%, according to Sportico (opens in new tab). The 49ers and the York family haven’t sold stakes to private equity firms, but have sold minority stakes to five Bay Area investors, some of whom have backgrounds in venture capital.

In May 2025, the 49ers sold a 6% stake to three Bay Area families — the Khoslas, the Griffifths, and the Deeters. In the fall, the team announced that Pete Briger Jr., managing partner of Fortress Investment Group, had purchased a stake. In December, OpenAI chairman Bret Taylor also acquired a minority stake. The York family still owns about 90% of the 49ers.

Kushner founded Thrive Capital in 2009. Joshua Kushner announced Thursday that former Disney CEO Bob Iger is returning to Thrive Capital, where he spent two months in 2022.