Latest news with #WMEGroup
Daily Mail
29-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Miami Dolphins' billionaire owner Stephen Ross closes in on shock deal to expand his sports portfolio
Miami Dolphins majority owner Stephen Ross is digging into his pockets for a new venture as he reportedly is closing in on a roughly 45% stake of the Miami Open. Ross, who is 85 and has a reported net worth of over $10billion, will secure the huge new venture as part of the tournament's ownership being up for sale by Silver Lake-owned WME Group. The majority sale is going to a group led by Ari Emanuel, who is also the CEO of TKO, the parent company of combat-sports federations UFC and WWE. Hard Rock Stadium, the Dolphins home venue, is also owned by Ross and has hosted the Miami Open since 2019, giving him the inside connection to the deal, per Front Office Sports. The Miami Open is viewed as an important stop on tennis' calendar, as one of the elite tournaments outside of the Grand Slam quartet, due to the prize money and standings points given out from the event. Jakub Mensik and Aryna Sabalenka won the individual titles of this year's Miami Open back in March. He will gain roughly 45% of the Miami Open, one of tennis' biggest tournaments outside of the Grand Slam quartet (Pictured is tennis star Mirra Andreeva at this year's event) Ross holds heavy control of the Dolphins despite selling 13% of his sports assets last year to funds overseen by Ares Management, as well as Brooklyn Nets owners Joe Tsai and Oliver Weisberg. Ross also is the owner of the Miami International Autodrome, which holds Formula One's Miami Grand Prix. The race is slated to be held annually through 2041 and has attracted plenty of A-list attention over the last few years. Despite his age, Ross has not discussed any sort of succession plans for his sports portfolio publicly. Ross' business moves have not slowed in 2025, with Relevent Sports, which Ross owns with CEO Danny Sillman, garnering global commercial rights for UEFA's men's club competitions, including the Champions League, per FOS.
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
WME Parent Endeavor Acquired By Silver Lake As Longtime Investor Takes Company Private
Silver Lake has successfully taken publicly traded Endeavor private again, closing its acquisition of outstanding shares that will see the entertainment giant led by Ari Emanuel wave goodbye to the New York Stock Exchange after four years. The Endeavor brand will no longer be used publicly. Its collection of assets will operate under WME Group, the companies said today. Emanuel, who founded the Endeavor talent agency in 1995 and most recently served as CEO of Endeavor, is now executive chairman of WME Group and continues as CEO and executive chair of TKO Group. More from Deadline Ryan Reynolds Slams Justin Baldoni's $400M "Gossip Rag" Suit As 'Deadpool' Star Moves For Dismissal TKO Launches Boxing Promotion Partnership With Saudi Arabia's Turki Alalshikh, Sela Group 2028 Summer Games In L.A. Will Be "Donald Trump's Olympics", Endeavor And TKO Exec Mark Shapiro Predicts: "He Is Going To Walk Out Of Office With The Trophy" Mark Shapiro will lead WME Group as president and managing partner in conjunction with Christian Muirhead and Richard Weitz. Shapiro most recently served as Endeavor president and chief operating officer. He continues as president and COO of TKO. Muirhead and Weitz, who have served as co-chairs of WME since 2022, are now co-chairs of WME Group and continue to lead the agency. Patrick Whitesell, Emanuel's longtime partner, will become CEO and founder of a new platform in partnership with Silver Lake to invest in and scale properties and IP across sports, media, and entertainment. As reported, he'll start with an initial pot of $250 million but may have flexibility as giant Silver Lake has over $100 billion in assets under management. In a second venture, Deadline hears that WME will spin out its NFL representation business, which Whitesell will acquire and run as a standalone agency. Plans for both new businesses are being finalized now. To take Endeavor private, global technology investment firm Silver Lake, with an acquisition group that also included Endeavor management and some outside investors, acquired 100% of the outstanding shares in the company — meaning shares they did not already own. Endeavor's public stockholders are entitled to receive $27.50 in cash for each share of Endeavor Class A common stock in hand as of the closing, which represents a 55% premium. It's been a long gestating deal. Emanuel took Endeavor public in April of 2021 after several false starts. At the time, Silver Lake owned 71% of the voting power of Endeavor and co-CEO Egon Durban and Managing Director Stephen Evans were members of the board's Executive Committee. Endeavor's IPO launched with fanfare after a few false starts but in the end didn't see the stock gains that Emanuel had hoped for. By the fall of 2023, he announced plans to explore alternatives, noting 'continued dislocation between Endeavor's public market value and the intrinsic value of Endeavor's underlying assets'. Endeavor's stock suffered from what Wall Street calls a 'conglomerate discount' as investors can have a hard time valuing companies that own a collection of diverse, albeit related assets. In October of 2023. Artemis, run by French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault, acquired a majority stake in Endeavor's privately-held rival CAA for a reported $7 billion, highlighting the potential private market valuation. The company's largest investor, Silver Lake Partners, stepped up, saying it wanted to buy in EDR, and announced formal plans to do that about a year ago. That closed today. A sojourn on the stock market, however limited, proved crucial to growing Endeavor's business. It provided the company with a currency — EDR shares — to do a major deal, acquiring Vince McMahon's WWE then merging it with Endeavor-owned UFC to create a leading sports and entertainment company, TKO Group, which trades on the NYSE and is up a hair today at $152. Endeavor retains its controlling ownership stake in TKO. Silver Lake said it believes that when consolidating all of TKO's value into Endeavor, the combined total enterprise value of $25 billion at $27.50 per share makes this the largest private equity sponsor public-to-private investment transaction in over a decade, and the largest ever in the media and entertainment sector. The portfolio of representation businesses owned by Endeavor Group will now be called WME Group, including its eponymous talent agency along with IMG Licensing and non-scripted, Emmy winning Pantheon Media Group with its 20 production labels. Durban called it a 'remarkable moment' and thanked Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell, and 'the relentless and ambitious strategic vision they have shared for more than twenty years to build Endeavor into a global powerhouse across talent, brands, and IP spanning entertainment, media, and sports. Silver Lake is proud and honored to be their partners since 2012 as they have continued to build the company.' 'Silver Lake has previously invested on six separate occasions to support Endeavor and now, with this latest investment, it is the single largest position in our global portfolio.' Durban continued: 'Silver Lake has never sold a share, instead increasing our stake as we remain highly excited about the long-term growth outlook for the company.' Ariel Emanuel, now Executive Chairman of WME Group, 'I am grateful to Egon and the team at Silver Lake for the trust they have placed in me as a founder and entrepreneur. Together, we have created and enhanced a foundation unlike any other to accelerate value creation for clients and partners across WME Group and TKO, which I am excited to continue to build and grow.' There have a flurry of smaller transaction surrounding this bigger deal. Earlier today, Endeavor completed its sale of betting and gaming entertainment company OpenBet in a management buyout backed by Emanuel with participation from OpenBet executives, including Jordan Levin, who continues to lead the business as CEO. Late last month, TKO Group closed its acquisition of IMG, On Location, and Professional Bull Riders (PBR) from Endeavor. Leadership: Ariel Emanuel, who founded the Endeavor talent agency in 1995 and most recently served as CEO of Endeavor, is now Executive Chairman of WME Group. He also continues as CEO and Executive Chair of TKO. Mark Shapiro will now lead WME Group as President and Managing Partner in conjunction with Christian Muirhead and Richard Weitz. Shapiro most recently served as President and COO of Endeavor. He also continues as President and COO of TKO. Christian Muirhead and Richard Weitz, who have served as Co-Chairmen of WME since Fall 2022, are now Co-Chairmen of WME Group and continue to lead the agency. Patrick Whitesell will become the CEO and Founder of a new platform in partnership with Silver Lake to invest in and scale properties and IP across sports, media, and entertainment. WME Group is the new name for the portfolio of representation businesses that includes talent agency WME, brand licensing agency IMG Licensing, marketing agency 160over90, and nonscripted content business Pantheon Media. The Endeavor brand will no longer be used publicly, but Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. remains the privately held parent company of WME Group and retains its controlling ownership stake in TKO Group Holdings, Inc. Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. owns approximately 61% of TKO. TKO is a premium sports and entertainment company comprising UFC, WWE, IMG, On Location and PBR that remains publicly traded (NYSE: TKO). Best of Deadline 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery How To Watch 'Wicked: Part One': Is The Film Streaming Yet? All The Songs In 'Severance' Season 2: From The Who To Ella Fitzgerald Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ari Emanuel Gets $173.8 Million Cash Payout From Endeavor Go-Private Deal With Silver Lake
Ari Emanuel converted a portion of his ownership interest in Endeavor into a cash payment of $173.8 million with Silver Lake's deal to take the company private, according to a regulatory filing. Patrick Whitesell, a top Endeavor exec who's leaving the company, received $100 million in cash. Emanuel, who founded the talent agency in 1995 and most recently served as CEO of Endeavor, is now executive chairman of the newly renamed WME Group, which will be led by Mark Shapiro. Emanuel also continues as CEO and executive chair of TKO Group, which houses UFC, WWE and other sports properties. More from Variety Ciao, Endeavor: Ari Emanuel Gives Up CEO Role as $25 Billion Go-Private Deal Closes; the Renamed WME Group Led by Mark Shapiro WME Revenue Spikes in Q4 as Endeavor Prepares to Go Private Again Endeavor Selling OpenBet and IMG Arena Sports-Gaming Units in $450 Million Management Buyout Backed by Ari Emanuel Per an Endeavor filing Monday related to the go-private deal, on March 22, 2025, Emanuel and his living trust updated the exec's rollover agreement to exclude $173,805,032.50, which he received as a cash payment with the closing of the Silver Lake transaction. In total, Emanuel rolled over ownership interests with a total value of $290.27 million into the newly private company, Endeavor Group Holdings Inc., which is the parent company of WME Group and TKO Group. Emanuel's rollover amount is $26 million more than was originally agreed upon in April 2024. Whitesell, who is exiting as executive chairman of Endeavor/WME with the go-private deal to launch a new Silver Lake-backed media investment company, received $100 million in cash under the sale. Per the SEC filing, Whitesell is rolling over ownership interests with a value equal to a total of $265.7 million into the newly private entity — which is $50 million more than was originally agreed upon in April 2024. Silver Lake now holds approximately 87% of the total voting securities of Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. According to Silver Lake, when consolidating all of the value of TKO into Endeavor, the combined total enterprise value of the company is $25 billion — making it the largest private-equity sponsor public-to-private investment transaction in more than a decade and the largest ever in the media and entertainment sector. Meanwhile, Emanuel had waived his right to a $25 million transaction bonus with the sale of Endeavor's assets, as previously disclosed. For 2023, Emanuel received a compensation package from Endeavor worth $83.9 million, which included $4.91 million in salary, a $34.65 million bonus and $43.47 million in stock awards. Roughly three-fourths of that total was attributed to Emanuel's role as CEO of TKO Group, the holding company that includes WWE and UFC, from which he had a pay package in 2023 valued at $64.9 million. According to Endeavor's filing, Emanuel's total compensation attributable to Endeavor was $18.97 million in 2023, compared with $19.1 million in 2022. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Oscars 2026: First Blind Predictions Including Timothée Chalamet, Emma Stone, 'Wicked: For Good' and More What's Coming to Disney+ in March 2025 Sign in to access your portfolio
