Post by Admin on Nov 27, 2015 18:19:11 GMT
More disasters originating in the year 2009:
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William Morris Agency
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morris_Agency
The William Morris Agency (also known as WMA) held the record of being the longest-running entertainment talent agency, spanning 109 years. It represented some of the most well-known entertainers of the 20th century across mediums like television, music and film. In April 2009, WMA merged with the Endeavor Talent Agency to form William Morris Endeavor.
History
Beginnings
In 1898, William Morris (born Zelman Moses), a German Jewish immigrant to the US, posted a cross-hatch trademark above an office door in New York City – four "X's", representing a W superimposed on an M – and went into business as William Morris, Vaudeville Agent. By the time WMA formally incorporated in New York State on January 31, 1918, Morris' son William, Jr. and an office boy named Abraham Lastfogel, who, after becoming a talent agent in his own right, entered into a business partnership with Morris Sr.
As silent film grew into widely viewed entertainment, Morris encouraged his clients to experiment in the new medium. Stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Al Jolson, the Marx Brothers, and Mae West were all represented by the company.
By 1930, Morris had turned over leadership of the agency to his son and Lastfogel. In 1932, five years after his retirement, William Morris, Sr. died from heart failure. By that time, the Agency had begun the process of relocating from Hollywood and Vine to Canon Drive in Beverly Hills.
1945 to 2000
The William Morris Agency attained further industry dominance with the December 1949 acquisition of the Berg-Allenberg Agency. The senior agent in the motion picture department during the 1950s was Mike Zimring.
By 1965, WMA's Music Department had emerged as an industry powerhouse, representing, among others, the Rolling Stones, Sonny & Cher, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds.[citation needed] Less than 10 years later, in 1973, the Agency's newly established Nashville office provided another significant boost to the operations of William Morris, extending the Agency's reach into country music and beyond.
In the early 1980s, WMA built the William Morris Plaza located at 150 El Camino Drive, directly across the street from its main building at 151 El Camino. In 1989, WMA acquired the Jim Halsey Company.
In the early 1990s, WMA's Literary Department announced the largest book-to-screen deal ever inked when it sold the television rights for Scarlett, the sequel to Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind. In 2000, WMA acquired The Writers Shop, which was owned by Jennifer Rudolph Walsh.
Post-2000
WMA's Miami Beach office opened in 2003, and WMA's Shanghai office opened in 2004. In 2007, the Agency expanded its London music operation, underscoring WMA's continued commitment to the international marketplace. Along with the addition of new personnel, the London office moved into the iconic Centre Point Tower.
In 2003, a seismic shift occurred in the agency landscape when WMA's SVP and Theatre topper, George Lane, and fellow agent in charge of foreign rights, Michael Cardonick, left WMA to open Creative Artists Agency's New York City office and Theatrical Department.
2009 Merger With Endeavor
Main article: William Morris Endeavor
On April 27, 2009, WMA and the Endeavor Talent Agency announced that they were merging to form William Morris Endeavor. Endeavor executives Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell were widely recognized as the architects of the deal and ultimately took the roles of WME Co-CEOs. Following the official announcement of the merger, nearly 100 WMA employees and former board members were let go. One of those leaving was Jim Wiatt, who came to WMA in 1999 from International Creative Management, where he was Vice-Chairman, in 1999. He had joined WMA as President and Co-Chief Executive Officer, and had risen to Board Chairman.
After the merger, WMA permanently relocated its offices to the Endeavor building at 9601 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California.
The WMA Agent Training Program
The WMA Agent Training Program, often referred to as the "mailroom", was established in the 1940s and is well known for its roster of successful alumni. Since the 1970s the program has been replicated at other talent agencies and studios, many of which were headed by former mailroom trainees. Once accepted, trainees rotate through different departments, starting with the mailroom, before becoming a full-time assistant or coordinator.
WMA's longtime competitor, Creative Artists Agency, was founded in 1975 by Michael Ovitz, Ron Meyer, William Haber, Michael Rosenfeld, and Rowland Perkins, all former WMA agent trainees. David Geffen once called the WMA Agent Training Program "The Harvard School of Show Business – only better: no grades, no exams, a small stipend and great placement opportunities." Graduates from the Training Program were perceived at a high level of prestige within the entertainment industry, because of the caliber of notable alums that have graduated from the program.
Former Chairman Norman Brokaw became the first mailboy in the Beverly Hills Mailroom at age 15. The Agent Training program still exists today at William Morris Endeavor.
It was famously documented in David Rensin's 2003 book, The Mailroom: Hollywood History from the Bottom Up.
References:
> "Company Overview of William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, LLC". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved May 27, 2012.
> Littleton, Cynthia (2009-04-27). "WMA, Endeavor approve merger". Variety.
> "A Charmed Life, or a Thirty-Six Short Makes It Big". The Brokaw Company. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
> Weisbord, Merrily (1991). Our future selves : love, life, sex, and aging. Berkeley, Calif.: North Atlantic Books. p. 157. ISBN 978-1556431456.
> Claudia Eller (January 16, 2003). "Morris Targets Miami's Talent". Los Angeles Times.
> "Women in Entertainment 2010 - Power 100 List". Retrieved 26 September 2012.
> Robert Hofler (2003-05-09). "CAA opening Gotham digs". Variety.com. Retrieved 2015-04-27.
> Finke, Nikki (2009-04-27). "Latest WMA-Endeavor Merger Update: Hollywood History In The Making Today: Endeavor And William Morris Vote Yes". Deadline.
> "It's A Takeover, Not A Merger". LA Weekly. May 28, 2009.
> Michael Cieply (December 26, 2009). "Layoffs in the William Morris-Endeavor Merger". The New York Times.
> Finke, Nikki (2009-10-09). "WME Will Stay In Endeavor Headquarters Instead Of Moving To New Morris Building". Deadline.
> Rose, Frank (1996). The Agency (First ed.). New York: Harper Business. ISBN 0887308074.
> Rensin, David (2003). The Mailroom (First ed.). New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0345442350.
Further reading:
Haskell, Sam. Promises I Made My Mother. ISBN 978-0345506559.
Rensin, David. The Mailroom: Hollywood History from the Bottom Up. ISBN 978-0345442345.
Rose, Frank. The Agency: William Morris and the Hidden History of Show Business. ISBN 978-0887307492.
External links:
Official website
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Endeavor Talent Agency
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endeavor_Talent_Agency
The Endeavor Talent Agency was a Beverly Hills-based talent agency founded by Ari Emanuel, Rick Rosen, Tom Strickler, and David Greenblatt. It was launched in March 1995 and went on to represent a wide variety of acclaimed film and television stars. In April 2009, Emanuel and Endeavor executive Patrick Whitesell orchestrated a merger with The William Morris Agency, resulting in William Morris Endeavor.
History
Formation
The roots of Endeavor can be traced to the ICM Agency, where founders Emanuel, Rosen, Strickler, and Greenblatt were all top television agents. In early 1995, they formed a plan to start their own agency, which was ultimately discovered by ICM Chairman Jeff Berg.
On March 29, the four agents were fired from ICM and immediately formed Endeavor. The agency began operations on March 30, working mainly with television clients from an office above the former Islands Restaurant in South Beverly Hills. Co-founder Ari Emanuel and the Endeavor Agency were the basis for the character Ari Gold, and his Miller Gold Agency, on HBO's Entourage.
1996–2003: Expansion / Whitesell Joins
In 1996, Endeavor moved to a new high-rise building at 9601 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Three new partners from CAA quickly joined the company: David Lonner, Doug Robinson, and Adam Venit. Lonner's clientele included the feature directors that Endeavor needed to solidify its standing as a full service agency. Robinson and Venit were the first actors' agents and had a client list that included Hank Azaria, Adam Sandler, and David Spade (all of whom are now represented by WME).
The Endeavor talent department grew dramatically during the next eight years, mainly with the 2001 addition of former CAA talent head, Patrick Whitesell. Whitesell led the development of the agency's list of feature film headliners, with a talent pool that included Ben Affleck, Christian Bale, Matt Damon, Hugh Jackman, and Jude Law. The group also signed several comedy stars during that period, including Sacha Baron Cohen, Kevin James, and Charlie Sheen.
2003–2009: Continued Growth
By 2003, Endeavor had become one of the industry's fastest-growing talent agencies. In June of that year, they relocated to 9601 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, which is now the current headquarters of WME. The Wilshire office was designed by UCLA professor and architect Neil Denari with wall graphics by 2x4 of New York. For this project, NMDA Inc., the company of Neil Denari, and associate architect Interior Architects received the 2007 Institute Honor Award for Interior Architecture from the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
In 2006, agent Nancy Josephson left ICM after the company went through an ownership change. Endeavor quickly brought in Josephson and her clients – Friends creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane, Craig Ferguson, Tyra Banks, and director David Frankel. Soon after, ICM agents Matt Solo and Robert Newman joined as well. Solo's roster included The Shield creator Shawn Ryan, while Newman's brought esteemed film directors Guillermo Del Toro, Baz Luhrmann, Danny Boyle and Robert Rodriguez.
2008 brought four key additions from UTA, including talent agents Sharon Jackson and Nick Stevens. Their clients, Will Arnett, Jack Black, Jonah Hill, Amy Poehler, and Ben Stiller, bolstered the agency's comedy department.
2009 Merger With William Morris Agency
Main article: William Morris Endeavor
In 2008, Emanuel and Whitesell began preliminary discussions with the William Morris Agency about a company merger. By April 2009, the announcement was made and William Morris Endeavor was formed. WMA ultimately relocated to Endeavor's Beverly Hills office and Emanuel and Whitesell retained the titles of Co-CEOs. Their successful partnership ultimately led Fortune to name Emanuel and Whitesell on their 2010 "Businessperson of the Year" list.
References:
> "It's A Takeover, Not A Merger". LA Weekly. May 28, 2009.
> Galloway, Stephen (2013-03-05). "Jeff Berg Speaks: Plans for New Agency, What Really Happened at ICM (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter.
> "Real-life Ari admits: I thought ‘Entourage’ would be a loser". The Daily. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
> Brodesser, Claude (2001-02-25). "CAA’s Whitesell eyes a new Endeavor". Variety.
> Neil M. Denari Architects Official site
> Matt Tinder, 2007 "AIA Honor Awards Recognize Excellence in Architecture, Interiors, and Urban Design". American Institute of Architects.
> 2007 Institute Honor Awards for Interior Architecture" (PDF format). American Institute of Architects. Endeavor Agency
> Endeavor Screening Room at NMDA, Official site
> Cieply, Michael. "Agents Replaying a Hollywood Drama". The New York Times.
> Finke, Nikki (2009-04-27). "Latest WMA-Endeavor Merger Update: Hollywood History In The Making Today: Endeavor And William Morris Vote Yes". Deadline.
> Finke, Nikki (2009-10-09). "WME Will Stay In Endeavor Headquarters Instead Of Moving To New Morris Building". Deadline.
> P.N. (November 19, 2010). "Businessperson of the Year". Fortune. Retrieved April 30, 2012.
External links:
Official website
Further reading:
Rensin, David. The Mailroom: Hollywood History from the Bottom Up. ISBN 978-0345442345.
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William Morris Endeavor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morris_Endeavor
William Morris Endeavor (also known as WME) is an American talent agency with offices in Beverly Hills. The company was founded in April 2009, after the merger of the William Morris Agency and the Endeavor Agency. WME represents artists across all media platforms, specifically movies, television, music, theatre, digital and publishing. It also represents the NFL. The company is run by Co-CEOs Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell.
History
Beginnings
Main articles: William Morris Agency and Endeavor Talent Agency
As the entertainment industry evolved, so did WMA, which soon expanded into television, film, literature and music representation.
The Endeavor Talent Agency launched in 1995, nearly 100 years after WMA, and rapidly grew to include clients from every facet of the entertainment industry. By 2009, Endeavor was one of the fastest-growing Hollywood talent agencies, with the New York Times singling out its reputation for "quick thinking, ferocity and barely bridled ambition."
WME Merger:
On April 27, 2009, WMA and the Endeavor Talent Agency announced that they were forming William Morris Endeavor, or WME. Endeavor executives Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell were widely seen as the architects of the merger and quickly became the Co-CEOs of WME.
In 2011, Emanuel was quoted in a Financial Times profile about the company, saying "We built a culture where people are rewarded for taking risks." Emanuel and Whitesell have implemented several leadership strategies to boost the productivity of their agents, most notably, the "Farmhouse" training program.
Following the merger, WME moved its headquarters into the offices of Endeavor. The company now takes up several floors at 9601 Wilshire Boulevard in the heart of Beverly Hills. Additionally, WME has offices in New York, London, Miami, and Nashville.
Company Expansion:
Since the merger, WME has grown to include several subsidiary companies and expanded divisions. Fortune named Co-CEOs Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell to their 2010 "Businessperson of the Year" list, acknowledging their corporate growth strategies. Emanuel had previously been recognized as a 21st-century "super agent" by both The Wall Street Journal and The Guardian, as well as an Advertising Age "Influencer".
Shortly after the merger, WME helped launch the investment group Raine, which aligned the company with properties like Vice Media and Zumba Fitness. In 2010 WME partnered with RED Interactive, giving clients access to an award-winning digital advertising agency. Two years later, they formed an alliance with the social media management firm TheAudience, partnering with digital entrepreneur Sean Parker and executing social campaigns for properties like the Seth MacFarlane motion picture Ted and the Coachella Music Festival. 2013 brought a strategic partnership between WME and creative music agency Jingle Punks, which creates, publishes and licenses music. WME is also an investor in the e-commerce platform OpenSky, which was named one of America's "Most Promising Companies" by Forbes. In 2013, Whitesell and Emanuel were profiled in Fast Company, highlighting the company's digital growth.
In July 2013, WME acquired a minority stake in the global creative agency Droga5. The partnership combines the companies’ advertising and entertainment resources, creating new opportunities for their collective clients in the branded content and marketing space. Founded by David Droga, Droga5 was named Adweek’s 2012 Agency of the Year and oversees accounts for Coca-Cola, Motorola and Spotify.
Describing the partnership, The New York Times wrote, “As consumers increasingly ignore traditional advertising and are bombarded with a constant stream of content, both online and offline, advertisers have been forced to find more compelling ways to get their attention. WME could help provide the answer given its substantial reach in television, publishing, music, film and theater."
On December 18, 2013, WME and Silver Lake announced the acquisition of IMG for $2.4 billion. WME’s Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell will serve as co-CEOs.
On January 21, 2015, it was announced that WME had acquired Global eSports Management (GEM), an international agency representing various esports and professional video game players and personalities.
On September 14, 2015, it was announced that WME had acquired the Miss Universe Organization from Donald Trump. On September 23 it was announced that WME/IMG would be partnering with Turner Broadcasting to create a televised Counter-Strike: Global Offensive esports league that be broadcast on TBS in 2016.
WME and Silver Lake:
On May 2, 2012, WME and Silver Lake, a technology-focused private equity firm based in Silicon Valley, signed an agreement for Silver Lake to acquire a 31% minority stake in the agency. A new executive committee, consisting of Co-CEOs Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell and Silver Lake Partners Managing Director Egon Durban, leads the company's growth strategy and investment activities. The Silver Lake deal drew the attention of several leading financial publications, including Forbes, The Financial Times, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
Departments:
WME's agents specialize in a broad variety of entertainment sectors. Company divisions include Talent, Motion Pictures, Scripted Television, Non-Scripted Television, Music, Literary, Theatre, Commercials, Speakers, and Branded Lifestyle.
Motion Pictures:
WME's motion picture clients represent a diverse mix of filmmakers, actors, writers and directors.
Music:
WME represents music artists across nearly every genre, including rock, pop, urban, country, electronic, Christian, Latin and adult contemporary. WME's artists have had a huge impact on the live touring industry, leading Billboard to name the company "Top Touring Agency" of 2012.
Department head Marc Geiger was ranked 9th on Billboard's 2013 "Power 100 List" and company partners Sara Newkirk Simon and Samantha Kirby Yohwere featured in Billboard's 2013 "Women In Music" issue. Sara Newkirk Simon was also featured in Billboard’s 2013 “40 Under 40” list along with Todd Jacobs. WME's Kirk Sommer was named "Most Influential Agent" by Paper Magazine in 2012 and agents Joel Zimmerman and Samantha Kirby Yoh were named in the "50 Most Influential People in EDM" list by In The Mix.
WME's Electronic Music division represents some of the most prominent DJ's in the music business. The EMD agents were largely credited as the architects of the Las Vegas DJ residency business model.
Television:
WME represents artists from the scripted and non-scripted television space.
Literary:
WME's Literary Department is co-headed by Suzanne Gluck, Eric Simonoff, and WME board member Jennifer Rudolph Walsh. In 2013, client Sheryl Sandberg released her debut book, Lean In, which topped multiple bestseller lists and sold 140,000 copies its first week of publication. The company's Literary Department also helps authors branch out into mediums like television and film, negotiating deals for book-to-screen adaptations. WME's UK Literary Department is headed by Simon Trewin.
Theatre:
WME's Theatre Department represents actors, directors, writers and choreographers. They also bring motion picture and television talent to the stage. Additionally, the department transitions theatre clients into new mediums, helping to break out TV and film talent and expand productions into new formats.
Speakers:
WME's Speakers Division represents a selection of speakers from a wide variety of fields, including national and global affairs, media relations, business and economics, health and science, humor, and sports and motivation. The Lectures Department also handles speaking opportunities for clients across all WME divisions.
Commercials:
WME's Commercials Division helps partner clients with notable brands like AT&T, Apple, Dior, Samsung, Gucci, Mercedes, Pepsi and Absolut Vodka. It covers commercials, animation, non-performing public appearances, direct marketing, home shopping and tour sponsorships. The department is also involved in client voiceover opportunities for commercials, animation and video games.
Branded Lifestyle:
In 2007, WME Board Member Jon Rosen launched the agency's Branded Lifestyle Group, which aims to build multiplatform businesses for personalities and brands in all areas of lifestyle entertainment. Clients are able to successfully utilize cross multiple mediums, including television, fashion, literature and consumer products.
Digital:
WME Digital represents properties in the digital space. WME Digital also leads the agency's start-up investing practice.
Philanthropy:
In 2009, the partners of William Morris Endeavor formed the WME Foundation, which promotes arts and education to disadvantaged children. Clients whose charities have benefitted from the Foundation's services include Charlize Theron, Hank Azaria, Usher, and Alicia Keys. In 2011, the company created Camp Summer Eagle and Camp Summer Lion, which provide donations and activities for schoolchildren in Compton, California and New York.
WME Retreat:
Dubbed a "brain spa" by The Wall Street Journal, WME has hosted an annual retreat for its agents.
References:
> Garrahan, Matthew (December 6, 2011). "Rewriting the Hollywood script". Financial Times. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
> "What Talent-Agency Merger Could Mean for Brands". Ad Age. April 28, 2009.
> Weisbord, Merrily (1991). Our future selves : love, life, sex, and aging. Berkeley, Calif.: North Atlantic Books. p. 157. ISBN 978-1556431456.
> Galloway, Stephen (2013-03-05). "Jeff Berg Speaks: Plans for New Agency, What Really Happened at ICM (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter.
> Cieply, Michael. "Agents Replaying a Hollywood Drama". The New York Times.
> Littleton, Cynthia (2009-04-27). "WMA, Endeavor approve merger". Variety.
> "It's A Takeover, Not A Merger". LA Weekly. May 28, 2009.
> Garrahan, Matthew (December 6, 2011). "Rewriting the Hollywood script". Financial Times. Retrieved April 30, 2012.
> Lashinsky, Adam (May 23, 2013). "Hi, It's Ari @#$%ing Emanuel, and I plan to shake up Hollywood". Fortune. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
> Finke, Nikki (2009-10-09). "WME Will Stay In Endeavor Headquarters Instead Of Moving To New Morris Building". Deadline.
> P.N. (November 19, 2010). "Businessperson of the Year". Fortune. Retrieved April 30, 2012.
> Sabbagh, Dan (2011-03-16). "Natalie Portman sparks Hollywood battle". The Guardian.
> Hampp, Andrew (2011-01-03). "Influencer: Ari Emanuel, William Morris Endeavor Agency". Advertising Age.
> Karmin, Craig (2012-01-27). "How a Parking Garage Stymied Hollywood's Super Agent". Wall Street Journal.
> Lattman, Peter (September 19, 2010). "Ex-Bankers Start Fund to Invest in Media". The New York Times. Retrieved March 29, 2011.
> "RED Interactive Agency". Retrieved March 29, 2011.
> Empson, Rip. "TheAudience: A Stealthy, Celeb-Driven Startup Co-founded By Sean Parker, Ari Emanuel & Oliver Luckett". Tech Crunch. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
> Barnes, Brooks. "A-Listers, Meet Your Online Megaphone". New York Times. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
> "America's Most Promising Companies". Forbes. Retrieved 2013.
> Laporte, Nicole (2013-03-18). "WME's Agent Provocateurs Ari Emanuel And Patrick Whitesell". Fast Company.
> Beltrone, Gabriel (2012-12-10). "Droga's Delicious World". AdWeek.
> Vega, Tanzina (2013-07-11). "William Morris to Invest in Droga5, an Ad Agency". New York Times.
> www.deadline.com/2013/12/wme-silver-lake-acquire-img-worldwide/
> Zumberge, Marianne (January 21, 2015). "WME–IMG Acquires Global eSports Management Gaming Agency". Variety. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
> variety.com/2015/biz/news/donald-trump-miss-universe-wmeimg-acquisition-1201592910/
> Spangler, Todd (September 23, 2015). "Turner, WME/IMG Form E-Sports League, With TBS to Air Live Events". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
> "William Morris Endeavor Entertainment and Silver Lake Announce Strategic Partnership". PR Newswire. Retrieved May 27, 2012.
> Chon, Gina (May 2, 2012). "Silver Lake Buys Stake in WME Agency". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 8, 2012.
> "William Morris Endeavor Entertainment and Silver Lake Announce Strategic Partnership". PR Newswire. May 2, 2012. Retrieved May 8, 2012.
> "Silver Lake takes stake in talent agency". Financial Times. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
> Savitz, Eric (May 6, 2012). "Silver Lake Agrees To Take Stake In William Morris". Forbes. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
> de la Merced, Michael (May 2, 2012). "Silver Lake Takes Stake in William Morris Endeavor". New York Times. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
> "Silver Lake Takes Stake in William Morris Endeavor". Wall Street Journal. May 2, 2012. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
> Staff. "Billboard Touring Awards: U2, Journey, Jason Aldean Win Big". Billboard. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
> Staff. "Billboard Power 100". Billboard. Retrieved February 3, 2013.
> Staff. "Women In Music 2012". Billboard. Retrieved November 28, 2012.
> Pini, Gary. "The Music Industry's 5 Most Influential Booking Agents". Paper Magazine. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
> Staff. "The 50 Most Powerful People In EDM 2013". In The Mix. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
> "William Morris Agency Forms Electronic Division". Billboard.
> Mason, Kerri (March 21, 2012). "Exclusive: Skrillex, David Guetta, Diplo, Many More Added to Wynn Resident-DJ Roster". Billboard.
> Italie, Hillel (2013-03-13). "'Lean In' Book Sales Are Big Win For Sheryl Sandberg". Huffington Post.
> "Ready Set 'Go' for Visa".
> Elliott, Stuart (October 28, 2004). "When Wireless Networks Merge, So Do Their Promotional Campaigns". The New York Times.
> "Trident Gum's Fake TV Show". The Wall Street Journal.
> "Samsung Propel "Ozzy"". Adweek. November 13, 2008. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
> "Marketplace Roundup".
> "Gucci Taps Rihanna for Ads on UNICEF Collaboration".
> "Josh Brolin Stars in AMV Campaign for Mercedes".
> "Absolut Vodka and Kanye West think it's easy to be Yeezy".
> Salkin, Allen (April 19, 2009). "He's the Man Who Sets the Table". The New York Times. Retrieved March 29, 2011.
> "JHRTS-NY Recap: A Conversation with Doug Herzog". HRTS.org.
> Bierly, Mandi (March 23, 2012). "'Burning Love' comes to E!". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
> Ponzar, Amanda. "Idea Seeds: How to make business-cause partnerships a win-win". Retrieved August 25, 2011.
> Littleton, Cynthia. "Campers get star treatment from WME". Retrieved July 18, 2011.
> Orden, Erica (2012-02-16). "Ari Emanuel Hosts a Brain Spa for His Agents". The Wall Street Journal.
External links:
Official website
WME Foundation Website
WME Speakers Website
Further reading:
Rose, Frank. The Agency: William Morris and the Hidden History of Show Business. ISBN 978-0887307492.
Rensin, David. The Mailroom: Hollywood History from the Bottom Up. ISBN 978-0345442345.
Haskell, Sam Haskell. Promises I Made My Mother. ISBN 978-0345506559.
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Silver Lake Partners
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Lake_Partners
Silver Lake is an American private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in technology, technology-enabled and related industries. Founded in 1999, the firm is one of the largest technology investors in the world. Notable among its investments are Avago, Dell, Alibaba, Go Daddy, William Morris Endeavor, IMG Worldwide, Avaya, Sabre Holdings, Skype, GLG, Seagate Technology and NASDAQ. Silver Lake is headquartered in Menlo Park with offices in San Mateo, Cupertino, New York, London, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo.
Investment Strategies
Silver Lake operates through three primary businesses, all focused on technology investments:
1. Silver Lake Partners makes private equity investments in large cap technology companies. Silver Lake Partners was the firm's original business founded by Jim Davidson, Dave Roux, Roger McNamee and Glenn Hutchins, and comprises the bulk of the firm's assets under management.
2. Silver Lake Sumeru – focuses on technology investments in middle-market companies. The Sumeru business was formerly known as Shah Capital founded by Ajay Shah.
3. Silver Lake Kraftwerk a growth oriented fund focused on energy, energy technology and resources investing.
4. Silver Lake Waterman a growth capital, via a proprietary Growth Debt product, to later-stage growth companies in the technology and technology-enabled industries.
History
Silver Lake was founded in 1999, at the height of the late 1990s technology boom to make private equity investments in mature technology companies as opposed to the startups pursued actively by venture capitalists.
Among the firm's founders were the four amigos:
1. Jim Davidson who had led the Technology Investment Banking business at Hambrecht & Quist;
2. David Roux who had an operational and entrepreneurial background having served as Chairman and CEO of Liberate Technologies, executive vice president at Oracle Corporation and senior vice president at Lotus Development;
3. Roger McNamee, who had previously co-founded Integral Capital Partners, a hybrid investment fund that made investments in publicly traded companies and venture capital investments in early stage startups; and
*4. Glenn Hutchins, who came from Blackstone Group and served as a Special Advisor on economic and healthcare policy in the early Clinton Administration and previously worked at Thomas H. Lee Partners;.
The firm raised its first fund, Silver Lake Partners, with $2.3 billion of investor commitments. Silver Lake's first fund was among the best performing funds of its vintage.
The firm's second fund, Silver Lake Partners II was raised in 2004 with $3.6 billion of commitments.
The firm's third fund, Silver Lake Partners III was raised in 2007 with $9.6 billion of commitments. Also in 2007, the firm launched its middle-market investment business, Silver Lake Sumeru, hiring Ajay Shah and the former investment team of Shah Capital Partners. Sumeru completed fundraising for its debut fund in 2008 with $1.1 billion of capital. Silver Lake also launched its credit focused business, Silver Lake Financial in 2007. Silver Lake Financial is headed by Roger Wittlin, who joined the firm together with a group of staff from Sutter Credit Strategies, a division of Wells Fargo.
In 2013, the firm raised its fourth fund, Silver Lake Partners IV, which closed in 2013 with $10.3 billion in committed capital.
Key personnel
In 2004, McNamee left Silver Lake to found Elevation Partners, an entertainment and media focused private equity firm, with Bono.[8]
On December 20, 2007 Cisco Systems Inc.'s Development Chief, Charles Giancarlo, announced his departure from Cisco and his new position as partner and managing director at Silver Lake.
In January 2008, as the mid-2000s buyout boom was coming to an end, Silver Lake sold a 9.9% stake in its management company to CalPERS for $275 million, implying a valuation of approximately $2.8 billion for the firm.
Contemporaneously with the raising of the firm's fourth large-cap fund in 2013, 'Silver Lakes new four amigos', a group of four investment professionals Mike Bingle, Egon Durban, Ken Hao and Greg Mondre, all of whom had been with the firm since its founding took leadership positions as Managing Partners in the firm alongside founder Jim Davidson.
In October 2013, it was announced that Skype's Chief Operating Officer and Development Chief, Mark Gillett would depart from Microsoft and succeed Charles Giancarlo as a managing director and head of value creation, while Mr Giancarlo would transition to a be a senior advisor to the firm.
Investments
Since inception in 1999, Silver Lake has made investments through leveraged buyout transactions, minority growth investments and PIPE investments in over 40 companies.
Silver Lake's current and realized portfolio of investments includes or has included technology industry companies such as Avago Technologies, AVI-SPL, Business Objects, Flextronics, Gartner, Instinet, IPC Systems, MCI Inc., MultiPlan, NASDAQ, NetScout Systems, NXP Semiconductors, Sabre Holdings, Seagate Technology, Serena Software, SunGard, Talend, TD Ameritrade, Technicolor SA, UGS Corp., and Virtu Financial.
The following table details some of Silver Lake's private equity investments:
1
Investment: EMC
Year: 2015
Company Description:
On 12 October 2015, EMC announced that they have agreed on a buy-out by Michael Dell, MSD Capital, and Silver Lake for $33.15 per share in a complicated cash transaction which includes tracking stock in VMware, which will remain a publicly traded company. The deal, when completed, will total $67 billion, the largest technology buyout since the 2013 Dell buyout. Dell continues to hedge its bets that mergers are the way to expand the company when others are betting that spinoffs and smaller companies are better.
2
Investment: DELL
Year: 2013
Company Description:
On 5 February 2013, Dell Inc. announced that they have agreed on a buy-out by Michael Dell and Silver Lake for $13.65 per share in cash. The shares of founder and CEO Michael Dell and some of its key management are not included in this deal. Microsoft additionally provided $2 billion in the form of a loan to assist with the buy-out. If the deal is completed Dell will be de-listed from NASDAQ and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and will again be a fully privately owned company as it was before its first Initial public offering. According to Michael Dell this move will make it easier to work on a long-term growth strategy as the company can make choices that will pay out on the longer term, without the need to address to demands of (short term) individual share-holders.
The deal was completed on October 30, 2013, and at $24.4 billion was the largest technology buyout ever, surpassing the 2006 buyout of Freescale Semiconductor for $17.5 billion. Other smaller investors are MSD Capital, an investment firm to manage the wealth of Michael Dell, Microsoft with a $2 billion loan and several debt-facilities from banks like Barclays, Credit Suisse, Bank of America and Royal Bank of Canada.
3
Investment: SKYPE
Year: 2009
Company Description:
Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board announce the acquisition of 65% of Skype for $1.9 billion from E-Bay, valuing the business at $2.75 billion. In May 2011, Microsoft agreed to acquire Skype for $8.5 billion in cash.
4
Investment: AVAYA
Year: 2007
Company Description:
Silver Lake and TPG Capital completed an $8.2 billion leveraged buyout of the enterprise telephony and call center technology company that was formerly a unit of Lucent.
5
Investment: SABRE HOLDINGS
Year: 2006
Company Description:
Silver Lake and TPG Capital announced a deal to buy Sabre Holdings, which operates Travelocity, Sabre Travel Network and Sabre Airline Solutions, for approximately $4.3 billion in cash, plus the assumption of $550 million in debt. Earlier in 2006, Blackstone acquired Sabre's chief competitor Travelport.
6
Investment: NXP SEMICONDUCTORS
Year: 2006
Company Description:
In August 2006, a consortium of Silver Lake, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and AlpInvest Partners acquired a controlling 80.1% share of semiconductors unit of Philips for €6.4 billion. The new company, based in the Netherlands, was renamed NXP Semiconductors.
7
Investment: SUNGUARD
Year: 2006
Company Description:
SunGard was acquired by a consortium of seven private equity investment firms in a transaction valued at $11.3 billion. The partners in the acquisition were Silver Lake, which led the deal as well as Bain Capital, the Blackstone Group, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Providence Equity Partners, and TPG Capital. This represented the largest leveraged buyout completed since the takeover of RJR Nabisco at the end of the 1980s leveraged buyout boom. Also, at the time of its announcement, SunGard would be the largest buyout of a technology company in history, a distinction it would cede to the buyout of Freescale Semiconductor. The SunGard transaction is also notable in the number of firms involved in the transaction. The involvement of seven firms in the consortium was criticized by investors in private equity who considered cross-holdings among firms to be generally unattractive.
8
Investment: AVAGO TECHNOLOGIES
Year: 2005
Company Description:
In 2005, the semiconductor division of Agilent was acquired by Silver Lake and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, to form Avago Technologies, one of the largest privately held semiconductor companies in the world. In 2009, Avago completed a $650 million initial public offering.
Reuters news service reports that Silver Lake Partners is among more than a dozen private equity firms subpoenaed by New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman regarding a widely used tax strategy within the industry that may illegally cut their tax bills by hundreds of millions of dollars.
Eric T. Schneiderman (born December 31, 1954) is an American attorney and politician. He serves as the 65th and current New York Attorney General. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Prior to becoming Attorney General, Schneiderman served in the New York State Senate.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Schneiderman
> 65th Attorney General of New York
Incumbent
Assumed office - January 1, 2011
Governor Andrew Cuomo
Preceded by Andrew Cuomo
> Member of the New York Senate from the 31st district
In office January 1, 2003 – December 31, 2010
Preceded by Efrain Gonzalez
Succeeded by Adriano Espaillat
> Member of the New York Senate from the 30th district
In office January 1, 1999 – December 31, 2002
Preceded by Franz Leichter
Succeeded by David Paterson
Controversy:
After the sale of Skype to Microsoft in 2011, Silver Lake was accused of unfairly depriving an employee of an options windfall. At issue was a clause in the Skype employee stock option grant agreement. The repurchase right gave Skype the authority to buy back shares at the grant price, when an employee left the company, even when those shares were vested.
References:
> Investment professionals as of 2015
> Silver Lake's New Four Amigos Dealmaker, September, 2007.
> fortune.com/2013/02/10/silver-lake-and-the-deal-of-the-next-century-fortune-1999/
> Wall Street's New Alchemist (Glenn Hutchins Profile). BusinessWeek, August 8, 2005
> Silver Lake Partners closes $3.6bn private equity fund. AltAssets, April 13, 2004
> Silver Lake to Raise $10 Billion for Technology Fund. February 6, 2007
> Silver Lake Sumeru closes on $1.1bn. AltAssets, May 7, 2008
> Bono Riffs on Silicon Valley Buyouts With Video Games, Forbes. Bloomberg, January 23, 2005
> Sorkin, Andrew Ross. "California Pension Fund Expected to Take Big Stake in Silver Lake, at $275 Million." New York Times, January 9, 2008
> manual4ever.com/doc-file/silver-lakes-new-four-amigos
> "Departing Skype Exec Gillett to Become Head of "Value Creation" at Silver Lake". Retrieved 2013-11-01.
> "Silver Lake Announces Appointment Of Mark Gillett As Head Of Value Creation". Retrieved 2013-11-02.
> In Takeover of EMC, Dell Makes Ambitious Bet
> Official Dell press release on (leveraged) buyout by Michael Dell and Silver Lake, 5 February 2013. Visited: 5 February 2013
> Berkowitz, Ben; Edwin Chan (2013-02-05). "Dell to go private in landmark $24.4 billion deal". Reuters. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
> Alden, William (2013-02-05). "Dell's Record-Breaking Buyout". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
> Financial Times website: Michael Dell orchestrates $24bn buyout deal, 5 February 2013
> EBay to Sell 65 Percent Of Skype For $1.9 Billion. New York Times, September 1, 2009
> eBay Inc. Signs Definitive Agreement to Sell Skype in Deal Valuing Communications Business at $2.75 Billion
> Skype Investors Reap Windfall in Deal With Microsoft. New York Times, May 10, 2011
> The Big Winners in the Skype Deal. New York Times, May 10, 2011
> Investment Firms Pick Up Avaya For $8.2 Billion
> Sorkin, Andrew Ross. "2 Firms Pay $4.3 Billion for Sabre." New York Times, December 12, 2006.
> Bloomberg News (2006-08-04). "Technology; Royal Philips Sells Unit for $4.4 Billion". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
> KKR in deal to buy Philips Semiconductors. Forbes, August 2, 2006
> "Capital Firms Agree to Buy SunGard Data in Cash Deal." Bloomberg L.P., March 29, 2005
> "Avago files for $400m IPO". 2008-08-28.
> Avago Tech. (AVGO) Sees IPO Price of $13-$15. Street Insider, July 27, 2009
> Avago Technologies Limited Prices Initial Public Offering. MSN Money, August 5, 2009
> Why Some Skypers Are Seeing Red. BloombergBusinessweek Magazine, June 23, 2011
External links:
Silver Lake (company website)
They needed "Bigger Boats"....
Latest WMA-Endeavor Merger Update: Hollywood History In The Making Today: Endeavor And William Morris Vote Yes
by Nikki Finke
April 27, 2009
deadline.com/2009/04/latest-wma-endeavor-merger-update-9098/
6 PM: Three of the Endeavor partners who will sit on the new WME Entertainment board — Ari Emanuel, Patrick Whitesell, and Adam Venit — are at William Morris offices right now introducing themselves to and shaking hands with the WMA agents and staff. “It’s eerily quiet,” one insider tells me. Earlier, Morris boss Jim Wiatt went to Endeavor and introduced himself.
2:40 PM: WME ENTERTAINMENT IS A GO! Here’s the official statement:
ENDEAVOR AND THE WILLIAM MORRIS AGENCY MERGE
Two of the leading entertainment agencies reach historic agreement
(Beverly Hills, CA — April 27, 2009) In a landmark deal, two of the leading entertainment agencies, Endeavor and the William Morris Agency, today announced a merger of both companies. The new agency will be called William Morris Endeavor (WME) Entertainment. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to be completed in the second quarter.
The leadership team for the new agency will be Jim Wiatt, Chairman, and Ariel Emanuel, Patrick Whitesell and Dave Wirtschafter, Co-CEOs.
Wiatt, Emanuel, Whitesell and Wirtschafter join company directors John Fogelman, Peter Grosslight, Rick Rosen, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh and Adam Venit on the nine-member board that will guide the agency.
This historical agreement brings together two of the industry’s most respected entertainment agencies spanning motion pictures, television, music, theatre, publishing, commercials, sports, marketing and below-the-line production.
2:39 PM: WMA ALSO VOTED TO MERGE WITH ENDEAVOR.
2:15 PM: ENDEAVOR VOTED 100% TO MERGE WITH WILLIAM MORRIS.
An email went out to the entire Endeavor staff calling for a 3 PM meeting.
There was a point last month when the meetings between partners of the 111-year-old William Morris and 14-year-old Endeavor agencies had been fraught with tension and the merger hung by a thread. The reluctance to combine wasn’t on the WMA side because CEO Jim Wiatt and President Dave Wirtschafter were eager for this deal to happen. Rather, it was from Endeavor’s side because of fears there was too much risk and not enough upside. It took some time, but eventually both sides came together on the deal’s economics. Adding to the problem was the polar opposite corporate cultures of the two agencies. WMA had been obstinate when it cames to the two agencies’ discussions about who should stay and who should go if and when the two tenpercenteries merge. Endeavor’s Ari Emanuel, for instance, was screaming at Wiatt, and battles broke out among some of their subordinates. Eventually, that too was worked out.
The rumors of a William Morris-Endeavor merger had been around for months and months, and I know some phone calls were exchanged after the end of the writers strike a year ago. But the reality is that these deals aren’t done overnight: like everything in Hollywood that involves ego and money, they’re complicated because they combine different agency cultures as well as partners and personnel. (Who else remembers back to 1992 when William Morris acquired Triad? The two agencies had been talking for 17 months; and, even when those chats became very serious, the deal points took five months. And let’s not forget the back story behind the ICM-Broder merger.) But I was the first to report that talks had heated up between upstart Endeavor and venerable William Morris to the point where I was being told by mid-February the odds were “70/30” that the two agencies would do a deal.
Endeavor’s Ari Emanuel had been on the prowl: he even had several meals with ICM’s investor Rizvi Traverse that didn’t go anywhere. But Endeavor-WMA looked to be a great fit: William Morris with a powerhouse music division but also a motion picture talent department needing more marquee names and a flagging television department except for unscripted fare. Endeavor, on the other hand, had been signing marquee names and packaging primetime series galore and wanted that music money. One agency is strong where the other is weak. But the problem was what it’s always been with these kind of mergers: the alpha male owners of major agencies always want to be in charge. After one particularly ugly meeting between the two agencies, a depressed Emanuel started using the phrase, “We all need a bigger boat.”
Repeated battles even had broken out over what to call the new agency.
One of the other hurdles to overcome was the tax consequences of any deal. It all had to do with “LLC” and “S” corporations, which could have meant writing checks in the millions of dollars to the U.S. government. Also, I found out there was at one point a 3rd company involved as an investor and partner. Then I reported on March 13th that the tax issues had been resolved.
That the deal was proceeding became clearer when I heard that founding partners at Endeavor had been phoning clients to make sure they’d signed their agency contracts.
Both sides now realize that any newly merged company has to consist of only 150 core movie/tv agents at most. The mantra of these negotiations is “make it smaller”. That means, of WMA’s 150 agents, and Endeavor’s 100 agents, about 100 from the combined total will have to be let go. And since CAA’s Richard Lovett has pursued a policy of 100% marketshare when it comes to clients, the new WMA-Endeavor is making as its goal to rep only the elite Top 2%.
The prospect of inevitable consolidation has led to both agencies finding themselves Rumor Central and denying that wholesale layoffs have started when they haven’t — yet. But they will. (See below for all my merger updates.)
10 AM: I’ve confirmed there’s an Endeavor vote this afternoon, which is when there’ll also be the William Morris vote. That’s right: the merger creating WME Entertainment has not yet officially been approved. Endeavor, now with Tom Strickler’s resignation, is expected to vote 100% for the merger. But there still is speculation that the decision won’t be 100% on the WMA side. (I understand that the William Morris side even held a Saturday session.) There will be a joint WMA-Endeavor meeting sometime this week with all the lawyers present. Then there’ll be Guild and ATA and state and federal government approvals necessary for the two agencies to legally merge. So that’s still at least 2 1/2 weeks away (as I’ve always reported). Don’t expect some big whoop-de-do announcement today. Because it would rob both agencies of what should be a major media blitz in May when everything’s official. Otherwise, both agencies will get swamped with media queries about who’s staying and who’s exiting — which will make for a lot of uncomfortable conversations which might not be legally advisable. Today, the agency landscape historically changes.
8 AM NEWS: Endeavor co-founder Tom Strickler has just resigned from Endeavor. He sent around a gracious email announcing that he was leaving the representation of writers and directors. There was always known to be friction between him and Ari Emanuel over the direction of the agency, even though the two go back so many years and have been friends. Ari even got emotional when he told the staff about Tom’s decision. Even though Strickler surprised everyone with his announcement this morning (he was at all the meetings and never hinted he wouldn’t be part of the merged enterprise), it wasn’t unexpected considering that Strickler was left off the newly merged company board. The word is that Robert Newman will run the new motion picture lit department. I hear that, as part of his resignation, Strickler savvily negotiated his share of the old company’s receivables plus an exit fee of half what the other board members are getting going forward. Tom has been against the idea of Endeavor merging even going back to when the agency was in serious talks with United Talent — and would have resigned then, too.
Speaking of United Talent, I’ve confirmed that one of the agency’s owners picked up the phone to William Morris boss Jim Wiatt about a month ago and said, “If you’re not too far down the road already with Endeavor, you might consider merging with us instead.” Here’s the thing: the other UTA owners didn’t know this phone call was being placed. That said, it’s unclear whether the goal was to really merge or to play with peoples’ heads.
I reported last week that WMA motion picture lit agent David Lonner and Steve Rabineau didn’t want to be part of the merger (WMA Agents Lonner & Rabineau In Play). Now Lonner is talking to Jimmy Miller and to Management 360 about coming on board as a manager, as well as about being an agent at United Talent. But I hear Lonner is being clear that he doesn’t know if J.J. Abrams will come with him. (At WMA, Lonner reps JJ with motion picture head John Fogelman.) Meanwhile, WMA’s Steve Rabineau is set to move to UTA.
I hear Mark Itkin, whose contract at WMA goes until at least 2012, is ready to make that move to CAA and fill the reality leadership position that has sat vacant all this time after Michael Camacho was pushed out. Since then, Camacho has been killing CAA in reality at UTA.
It will be at least 14 months before WMA’s new building is ready to house the newly merged WMA-Endeavor agency. So, until then, both agencies will “mix and match” buildings, I’m told. I hear that television will be housed at Endeavor under Rick Rosen. And Endeavor’s motion picture department will move to the old Morris building. And, yes, Ari Emanuel, will move his office to WMA to be near Jim Wiatt’s. (Didn’t I tell you this was going to get fun quickly?)
So I hear that, back in March, the first meeting between WMA book agent Jennifer Rudolph Walsh and Endeavor book agent Richard Abate went really, really badly. Apparently, the two hated one another. There was even an unsuccessful attempt by WMA to push Abate out. Ari pushed back. Soon everything calmed down. Why? I’m told it was because Ari saw that WMA has a $20 million book business whereas Endeavor’s is still new. And that trumps personality conflicts.
1. Aaron Kaplan’s $11 Million/5-Year Deal
2. The Name Of Merged WMA-END Is…
3. The $300 Million Dollar Agency Merger?
4. Board Of Merged WMA-Endeavor
5. Endeavor Partners To Meet On Merger
6. WMA Board Heard Merger Presentation
7. WMA Agents Lonner & Rabineau In Play
8. Another WMA-Endeavor Merger Update, Part II
9. William Morris-Endeavor Merger: Latest
10. Another Sign This Merger Isn’t Done…
11. WMA-Endeavor Merger Update: Bring On The Lawyers!
12. WMA-Endeavor Meeting Inconclusive…
13. WMA-Endeavor Merger: Today’s Meeting
14. URGENT! Endeavor-WMA Merger Hangs By Thread: Stop Or Go Decision Thursday
15. Endeavor Finds Itself Rumor Central
16. Will It Be WME Or EWM Or Neither?
17. Endeavor/WMA Merger News Of The Day
18. Look Who’s Following An Agency Merger
19. Endeavor And WMA Meeting Over Merger
20. UPDATE: That WMA/Endeavor Merger
21. IT’S FOR REAL: Endeavor And William Morris Talking About Teaming Up
22. What’s Really Happening Inside Morris?
23. William Morris Agency Expands Board To Include More Music
Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy
William Morris Agency Expands Board To Include Younger Agents And More Music
deadline.com/2008/06/william-morris-agency-expands-board-to-include-younger-agents-and-more-music-reps-6124/
EXCLUSIVE: In the old days, to be a board member at the William Morris Agency, you had to be an “Elder” with white hair, a slight stoop, Red Buttons as a client, and pants pulled up to the waist. wma.jpgAs of today, the Morris board is much younger, almost hipper, suddenly rockin’. Who’d a thunk it? I’m told that the tenpercentery just added these agents to its 20-member governing body and upped them to the rank of executive vice presidents: Paul Bricault, head of corporate consulting; John Ferriter, head of non-scripted television; Marc Geiger, head of contemporary music; Aaron Kaplan, head of scripted television; Jon Rosen, head of East Coast television; Rick Shipp, co-head of WMA Nashville; David Snyder, head of adult contemporary music.
To briefly list their clients, Bricault works with MySpace, General Motors, Anheuser-Busch and oversees. Ferriter has Ryan Seacrest Inc, Larry King, Chelsea Handler and also oversees other clients. Geiger co-founded Lalapalooza and reps Nine Inch Nails among other groups. Kalan has Darren Star, Barry Sonenfeld and also oversees. Rosen is Mr. Food Network with clients Rachel Ray, Giada Di Laurentiis, Bobby Flay, etc. Shipp has all those country music acts like Brooks & Dunn, Rascal Flats, etc. Snyder reps Herbie Hancock, Kenny G, Natalie Cole, Julio Inglesias.
What many don’t realize is that while Morris in the old days was a TV cash cow on the one-time strength of the syndication market, its influence in television (especially scripted network shows) has waned in recent years. Its motion picture department boasting a small cadre of Triple-A list directors/writers/actors has always been an insignificant profit center. So the agency is now relying on the powerhouse music division to bring in the big bucks what with clients like Kanye West, Foo Fighters, The Eagles, The Killers, Amy Winehouse, Weezer, Pearl Jam, The Beastie Boys, Rage Against The Machine, Rihanna. (WMA booked over 22,000 dates last year alone…) Meanwhile, chairman and CEO Jim Wiatt likes to joke how he now finds himself among the oldest guys on the board versus a lot of the newcomers who are only in their 30s and 40s. Interestingly, there hasn’t been a board shake-up since I wrote about The Big One back in 2004. (See All Shook Up in LA Weekly.)
From the Comment Section:
btlt • on Jun 20, 2008:
“the Morris board is younger, hipper, and rockin’.”
Look everyone, it’s the new and improved “Old Boys” club, 7 positions…
all going to the younger, hipper, and rockin’ penises. WOW so 2008, not a woman in the bunch.
Ct • on Jun 20, 2008:
Looks like WM is gearing up for something big…
They’ve got their soldiers in line, who will they be attacking?
Bd • on Jun 20, 2008:
This is merely an extra title. WMA has a smaller board which actually makes the decisions and has the real power.
OhP - on Jul 1, 2008:
1) WMA never puts anyone on the board without kicking someone off, you should look into who has been asked to step down or is slowly being pushed out of the company (at least two of those women are under pressure, it’s still a boys club).
2) It’s true, there is a smaller board, a compensation committee that really holds the power and decides salaries and bonuses, then gives themselves additional bonuses in March, unbeknownst to the rest of the company…it’s such a racket.
(2007 News, before 2009 mergers)
.......................................................
Bono Riffs on Silicon Valley Buyouts With Video Games, Forbes
By Monee Fields-White - January 23, 2007
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aItvdqTc15ew
Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- In late 2003, Silicon Valley investor Roger McNamee got a phone call from rock star Bono with a proposal. The U2 lead singer, who'd previously sought business advice from McNamee, had an idea for investing in the entertainment industry, McNamee says.
``Bono had a big idea but needed a partner,'' he says. ``A mutual friend reminded Bono that he knew me.''
Less than one year later, Elevation Partners LP was born. The Menlo Park, California-based private equity firm, which includes Bono, whose real name is Paul Hewson, and McNamee as managing directors, raised almost $1.9 billion from more than 50 pension funds, institutions, college endowments and individuals for its first fund, which began investing in 2005.
Elevation, which is named after a U2 song, is looking at media and entertainment companies that are in a position to benefit from technology, says McNamee, 50, a former technology stock analyst turned venture capitalist. ``I look for places where technology is disrupting the status quo,'' McNamee says, leaning forward in his blue leather chair in a conference room furnished with a video-arcade game machine.
Spending by consumers and businesses on online access, content and advertising will increase 14.5 percent to $74 billion by 2009 from 2004, estimates New York-based Veronis Suhler Stevenson LLC, a private equity media investor. For its first fund, Elevation aims to acquire stakes in eight to 12 music, video game and print media companies, ranging in price from $50 million to $300 million.
Video Games
So far, Elevation has made three investments. In November 2005, the firm set up a holding company with $300 million of capital for its video game companies, including a stake in BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios LLC, creators of Baldur's Gate, Mercenaries and Star Wars games.
That same month, the partners bought 14 percent of online real-estate agent Homestore Inc. for $100 million. (In May, the company changed its name to Move Inc.)
In August, Elevation bought an undisclosed minority stake in Forbes Inc., owners of 90-year-old Forbes magazine and Forbes.com.
NcNamee brushes off suggestions that a flamboyant rock star like Bono makes an unlikely partner for Steve Forbes, a former Republican presidential candidate.
``In the end, we are going to be judged on whether we make a difference or not,'' he says. ``We want to let our investments speak for themselves.''
`A Maverick'
McNamee has a knack for finding good investments in unpopular industries, says Kim Polese, chief executive officer of software company SpikeSource.com in Redwood City, California.
``He's a maverick,'' says Polese, who first met McNamee through L. John Doerr, general partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, in 1996, when she founded software company Marimba Inc. Kleiner Perkins invested in Polese's firm.
McNamee, who has shaggy brown hair that grazes his shoulders, began his investment career in 1982, when he joined T. Rowe Price as a defense electronics and software analyst after earning an MBA at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Personal computers were still a nascent industry in the early 1980s, and covering the new technology as well as defense electronics while learning how to do equity research proved to be a difficult task, says Edward Mathias, the former T. Rowe Price managing director who hired McNamee.
Gates, Dell
Mathias says he took McNamee aside and told him that he needed to get his act together or he would be fired. ``There was no question he was a person of enormous potential,'' says Mathias, now a managing director at Carlyle Group.
``He had all of the prerequisite traits to make a good investor early on; how he seasoned those traits, learned how to work with others and how he developed as an investor were really key factors.''
McNamee says when he reduced his workload, dropping software and focusing on defense electronics, he did better. Starting in 1985, he returned to covering software, computers and other technology.
He spent much of his time attending technology trade shows and conferences, where he met young upstarts such as Microsoft Corp.'s Bill Gates and Michael Dell, who founded what's now called Dell Inc. in 1984. He focused on startup companies such as Dell that later became industry giants.
In early 1988, Mathias named McNamee manager of the T. Rowe Price Science & Technology Fund. Under his watch, from 1988 to 1991, the fund generated a 25 percent average annual return, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
`Well Networked'
While at T. Rowe Price, McNamee says, he came to admire some of Silicon Valley's top venture capitalists, such as Doerr. The admiration was mutual. ``Roger was smart and energetic and incredibly well networked,'' Doerr says.
In 1990, the pair agreed to go into business together, combining Doerr's venture capital expertise with McNamee's prowess at picking stocks. The result, Integral Capital Partners, was the first fund to invest both in publicly traded companies and in startups at the venture capital stage.
Integral produced a 32.7 percent average annual gross return from December 1991 to May 2004, McNamee says. In 1997, as Internet stocks started taking off, McNamee became wary. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had doubled from the start of 1994 to the end of 1997.
``It was clear that Silicon Valley and Wall Street were both out of control,'' he says. ``I thought, when this thing ends, it's going to hurt our investors and me. I decided I didn't want any of us to get hurt.''
Silver Lake Formed
McNamee and Jim Davidson, a skiing buddy and former head of technology investing at Hambrecht & Quist Group, began seeking Silicon Valley companies that were overlooked by others in the market.
They formed private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, along with Glenn Hutchins, former Blackstone Group LP senior managing director, and David Roux, executive vice president of Oracle Corp. They raised $2.3 billion for the firm's first buyout fund.
``Some really good companies were getting left behind,'' Davidson says. One was Seagate Technology Inc., the largest maker of disk drives. In March 2000, Silver Lake, Texas Pacific Group and four other investment firms bought Seagate for $2.2 billion -- including $1.1 billion in equity.
In December 2002, Silver Lake and its partners took George Town, Grand Cayman-based Seagate public again, selling 17 percent of the company for $12 a share -- giving the whole company a market value of $5.1 billion, or about five times the firm's initial investment, according to Bloomberg data.
Flying Other Brothers
While McNamee was building his investing resume, he also had a second career: as a rock musician. The self-taught guitarist is the lead singer of the Flying Other Brothers -- a band formed with his younger brother, Giles. Other band members include Pete Sears, a former member of Jefferson Starship.
Playing with the Flying Other Brothers enabled McNamee to meet other people in the music world. Once a week, he advised the surviving members of the Grateful Dead -- Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh and Bill Kreutzmann -- on their investments.
McNamee says he built a plan -- called Bandwagon -- for the Dead, which would have allowed the rock legends and other bands to sell their music, concert tickets and T-shirts directly to fans.
U2, one of the few rock bands to own rights to its own music, became interested in the project. In February 2001, Bono and U2 lead guitarist The Edge, whose real name is David Evans, met McNamee in Los Angeles to discuss the project.
Pro Bono Work
``At this meeting, I became impressed with the business savvy of Bono and Edge,'' says McNamee, who jokes that he worked with U2 on a pro Bono basis.
The Bandwagon project never got off the ground because the Dead decided to sell their music and other paraphernalia through another company.
Two years later, Bono, McNamee and Silver Lake's Mark Bodnick came together again to craft the investment plan for Elevation Partners in Dublin and New York.
The trio was joined by John Riccitiello, then president of video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc.; Fred Anderson, former chief financial officer of Apple Computer Inc.; and Bret Pearlman, a former managing director at buyout firm Blackstone. By May 2005, they had raised $1.9 billion.
Elevation has the right mix of talent, says Paul Kedrosky, a venture partner at Vancouver-based Ventures West. ``It's not all bankers doing deals based on balance sheets,'' he says.
Mercenaries 2
McNamee says Bono makes himself available one day a week to Elevation, participating in meetings by teleconference even when he's on tour. In May 2005, he joined the partners on a road show to market the fund to about 100 institutional investors.
``No one pretends that it's a full-time job for him,'' McNamee says, ``but he's very active.''
In November 2005, the partners closed the BioWare and Pandemic Studios deal -- one of its most controversial. That's because Pandemic made a video game, called Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, depicting a mercenary invasion of Venezuela.
That same month, the firm bought Move, an online real-estate agency that had been in turmoil after Stuart Wolff, the company's former CEO, was charged with financial wrongdoing. Wolff was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison for falsifying balance sheets, according to a judgment on Oct. 12, 2006, by U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson of the Federal court in Los Angeles. Wolff has filed an appeal.
Forbes.com
Shareholders took Elevation's investment as a sign that the troubles were behind Move, says Mark Argento, an analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group, a Minneapolis-based investment bank. On Jan. 22, the company's stock was up 41.3 percent to $5.95, from Nov. 7, 2005, when Elevation acquired it. ``It's a validation of the opportunities,'' Argento says.
Elevation was interested in Forbes partly because of Forbes.com, the magazine's Web site. Traffic more than doubled in 2006 and revenue rose 50 percent, according to Chief Operating Officer Tim Forbes. ``This wasn't just the typical private equity play; this was a growth play,'' he says.
McNamee says he can use his experience in picking undervalued stocks to find media and entertainment companies that offer opportunities for rising profits and stock prices. As Bono sings in the song that gave the firm its name, ``The goal is elevation.''
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William Morris Agency
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morris_Agency
The William Morris Agency (also known as WMA) held the record of being the longest-running entertainment talent agency, spanning 109 years. It represented some of the most well-known entertainers of the 20th century across mediums like television, music and film. In April 2009, WMA merged with the Endeavor Talent Agency to form William Morris Endeavor.
History
Beginnings
In 1898, William Morris (born Zelman Moses), a German Jewish immigrant to the US, posted a cross-hatch trademark above an office door in New York City – four "X's", representing a W superimposed on an M – and went into business as William Morris, Vaudeville Agent. By the time WMA formally incorporated in New York State on January 31, 1918, Morris' son William, Jr. and an office boy named Abraham Lastfogel, who, after becoming a talent agent in his own right, entered into a business partnership with Morris Sr.
As silent film grew into widely viewed entertainment, Morris encouraged his clients to experiment in the new medium. Stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Al Jolson, the Marx Brothers, and Mae West were all represented by the company.
By 1930, Morris had turned over leadership of the agency to his son and Lastfogel. In 1932, five years after his retirement, William Morris, Sr. died from heart failure. By that time, the Agency had begun the process of relocating from Hollywood and Vine to Canon Drive in Beverly Hills.
1945 to 2000
The William Morris Agency attained further industry dominance with the December 1949 acquisition of the Berg-Allenberg Agency. The senior agent in the motion picture department during the 1950s was Mike Zimring.
By 1965, WMA's Music Department had emerged as an industry powerhouse, representing, among others, the Rolling Stones, Sonny & Cher, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds.[citation needed] Less than 10 years later, in 1973, the Agency's newly established Nashville office provided another significant boost to the operations of William Morris, extending the Agency's reach into country music and beyond.
In the early 1980s, WMA built the William Morris Plaza located at 150 El Camino Drive, directly across the street from its main building at 151 El Camino. In 1989, WMA acquired the Jim Halsey Company.
In the early 1990s, WMA's Literary Department announced the largest book-to-screen deal ever inked when it sold the television rights for Scarlett, the sequel to Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind. In 2000, WMA acquired The Writers Shop, which was owned by Jennifer Rudolph Walsh.
Post-2000
WMA's Miami Beach office opened in 2003, and WMA's Shanghai office opened in 2004. In 2007, the Agency expanded its London music operation, underscoring WMA's continued commitment to the international marketplace. Along with the addition of new personnel, the London office moved into the iconic Centre Point Tower.
In 2003, a seismic shift occurred in the agency landscape when WMA's SVP and Theatre topper, George Lane, and fellow agent in charge of foreign rights, Michael Cardonick, left WMA to open Creative Artists Agency's New York City office and Theatrical Department.
2009 Merger With Endeavor
Main article: William Morris Endeavor
On April 27, 2009, WMA and the Endeavor Talent Agency announced that they were merging to form William Morris Endeavor. Endeavor executives Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell were widely recognized as the architects of the deal and ultimately took the roles of WME Co-CEOs. Following the official announcement of the merger, nearly 100 WMA employees and former board members were let go. One of those leaving was Jim Wiatt, who came to WMA in 1999 from International Creative Management, where he was Vice-Chairman, in 1999. He had joined WMA as President and Co-Chief Executive Officer, and had risen to Board Chairman.
After the merger, WMA permanently relocated its offices to the Endeavor building at 9601 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California.
The WMA Agent Training Program
The WMA Agent Training Program, often referred to as the "mailroom", was established in the 1940s and is well known for its roster of successful alumni. Since the 1970s the program has been replicated at other talent agencies and studios, many of which were headed by former mailroom trainees. Once accepted, trainees rotate through different departments, starting with the mailroom, before becoming a full-time assistant or coordinator.
WMA's longtime competitor, Creative Artists Agency, was founded in 1975 by Michael Ovitz, Ron Meyer, William Haber, Michael Rosenfeld, and Rowland Perkins, all former WMA agent trainees. David Geffen once called the WMA Agent Training Program "The Harvard School of Show Business – only better: no grades, no exams, a small stipend and great placement opportunities." Graduates from the Training Program were perceived at a high level of prestige within the entertainment industry, because of the caliber of notable alums that have graduated from the program.
Former Chairman Norman Brokaw became the first mailboy in the Beverly Hills Mailroom at age 15. The Agent Training program still exists today at William Morris Endeavor.
It was famously documented in David Rensin's 2003 book, The Mailroom: Hollywood History from the Bottom Up.
References:
> "Company Overview of William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, LLC". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved May 27, 2012.
> Littleton, Cynthia (2009-04-27). "WMA, Endeavor approve merger". Variety.
> "A Charmed Life, or a Thirty-Six Short Makes It Big". The Brokaw Company. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
> Weisbord, Merrily (1991). Our future selves : love, life, sex, and aging. Berkeley, Calif.: North Atlantic Books. p. 157. ISBN 978-1556431456.
> Claudia Eller (January 16, 2003). "Morris Targets Miami's Talent". Los Angeles Times.
> "Women in Entertainment 2010 - Power 100 List". Retrieved 26 September 2012.
> Robert Hofler (2003-05-09). "CAA opening Gotham digs". Variety.com. Retrieved 2015-04-27.
> Finke, Nikki (2009-04-27). "Latest WMA-Endeavor Merger Update: Hollywood History In The Making Today: Endeavor And William Morris Vote Yes". Deadline.
> "It's A Takeover, Not A Merger". LA Weekly. May 28, 2009.
> Michael Cieply (December 26, 2009). "Layoffs in the William Morris-Endeavor Merger". The New York Times.
> Finke, Nikki (2009-10-09). "WME Will Stay In Endeavor Headquarters Instead Of Moving To New Morris Building". Deadline.
> Rose, Frank (1996). The Agency (First ed.). New York: Harper Business. ISBN 0887308074.
> Rensin, David (2003). The Mailroom (First ed.). New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0345442350.
Further reading:
Haskell, Sam. Promises I Made My Mother. ISBN 978-0345506559.
Rensin, David. The Mailroom: Hollywood History from the Bottom Up. ISBN 978-0345442345.
Rose, Frank. The Agency: William Morris and the Hidden History of Show Business. ISBN 978-0887307492.
External links:
Official website
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Endeavor Talent Agency
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endeavor_Talent_Agency
The Endeavor Talent Agency was a Beverly Hills-based talent agency founded by Ari Emanuel, Rick Rosen, Tom Strickler, and David Greenblatt. It was launched in March 1995 and went on to represent a wide variety of acclaimed film and television stars. In April 2009, Emanuel and Endeavor executive Patrick Whitesell orchestrated a merger with The William Morris Agency, resulting in William Morris Endeavor.
History
Formation
The roots of Endeavor can be traced to the ICM Agency, where founders Emanuel, Rosen, Strickler, and Greenblatt were all top television agents. In early 1995, they formed a plan to start their own agency, which was ultimately discovered by ICM Chairman Jeff Berg.
On March 29, the four agents were fired from ICM and immediately formed Endeavor. The agency began operations on March 30, working mainly with television clients from an office above the former Islands Restaurant in South Beverly Hills. Co-founder Ari Emanuel and the Endeavor Agency were the basis for the character Ari Gold, and his Miller Gold Agency, on HBO's Entourage.
1996–2003: Expansion / Whitesell Joins
In 1996, Endeavor moved to a new high-rise building at 9601 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Three new partners from CAA quickly joined the company: David Lonner, Doug Robinson, and Adam Venit. Lonner's clientele included the feature directors that Endeavor needed to solidify its standing as a full service agency. Robinson and Venit were the first actors' agents and had a client list that included Hank Azaria, Adam Sandler, and David Spade (all of whom are now represented by WME).
The Endeavor talent department grew dramatically during the next eight years, mainly with the 2001 addition of former CAA talent head, Patrick Whitesell. Whitesell led the development of the agency's list of feature film headliners, with a talent pool that included Ben Affleck, Christian Bale, Matt Damon, Hugh Jackman, and Jude Law. The group also signed several comedy stars during that period, including Sacha Baron Cohen, Kevin James, and Charlie Sheen.
2003–2009: Continued Growth
By 2003, Endeavor had become one of the industry's fastest-growing talent agencies. In June of that year, they relocated to 9601 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, which is now the current headquarters of WME. The Wilshire office was designed by UCLA professor and architect Neil Denari with wall graphics by 2x4 of New York. For this project, NMDA Inc., the company of Neil Denari, and associate architect Interior Architects received the 2007 Institute Honor Award for Interior Architecture from the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
In 2006, agent Nancy Josephson left ICM after the company went through an ownership change. Endeavor quickly brought in Josephson and her clients – Friends creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane, Craig Ferguson, Tyra Banks, and director David Frankel. Soon after, ICM agents Matt Solo and Robert Newman joined as well. Solo's roster included The Shield creator Shawn Ryan, while Newman's brought esteemed film directors Guillermo Del Toro, Baz Luhrmann, Danny Boyle and Robert Rodriguez.
2008 brought four key additions from UTA, including talent agents Sharon Jackson and Nick Stevens. Their clients, Will Arnett, Jack Black, Jonah Hill, Amy Poehler, and Ben Stiller, bolstered the agency's comedy department.
2009 Merger With William Morris Agency
Main article: William Morris Endeavor
In 2008, Emanuel and Whitesell began preliminary discussions with the William Morris Agency about a company merger. By April 2009, the announcement was made and William Morris Endeavor was formed. WMA ultimately relocated to Endeavor's Beverly Hills office and Emanuel and Whitesell retained the titles of Co-CEOs. Their successful partnership ultimately led Fortune to name Emanuel and Whitesell on their 2010 "Businessperson of the Year" list.
References:
> "It's A Takeover, Not A Merger". LA Weekly. May 28, 2009.
> Galloway, Stephen (2013-03-05). "Jeff Berg Speaks: Plans for New Agency, What Really Happened at ICM (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter.
> "Real-life Ari admits: I thought ‘Entourage’ would be a loser". The Daily. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
> Brodesser, Claude (2001-02-25). "CAA’s Whitesell eyes a new Endeavor". Variety.
> Neil M. Denari Architects Official site
> Matt Tinder, 2007 "AIA Honor Awards Recognize Excellence in Architecture, Interiors, and Urban Design". American Institute of Architects.
> 2007 Institute Honor Awards for Interior Architecture" (PDF format). American Institute of Architects. Endeavor Agency
> Endeavor Screening Room at NMDA, Official site
> Cieply, Michael. "Agents Replaying a Hollywood Drama". The New York Times.
> Finke, Nikki (2009-04-27). "Latest WMA-Endeavor Merger Update: Hollywood History In The Making Today: Endeavor And William Morris Vote Yes". Deadline.
> Finke, Nikki (2009-10-09). "WME Will Stay In Endeavor Headquarters Instead Of Moving To New Morris Building". Deadline.
> P.N. (November 19, 2010). "Businessperson of the Year". Fortune. Retrieved April 30, 2012.
External links:
Official website
Further reading:
Rensin, David. The Mailroom: Hollywood History from the Bottom Up. ISBN 978-0345442345.
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William Morris Endeavor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morris_Endeavor
William Morris Endeavor (also known as WME) is an American talent agency with offices in Beverly Hills. The company was founded in April 2009, after the merger of the William Morris Agency and the Endeavor Agency. WME represents artists across all media platforms, specifically movies, television, music, theatre, digital and publishing. It also represents the NFL. The company is run by Co-CEOs Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell.
History
Beginnings
Main articles: William Morris Agency and Endeavor Talent Agency
As the entertainment industry evolved, so did WMA, which soon expanded into television, film, literature and music representation.
The Endeavor Talent Agency launched in 1995, nearly 100 years after WMA, and rapidly grew to include clients from every facet of the entertainment industry. By 2009, Endeavor was one of the fastest-growing Hollywood talent agencies, with the New York Times singling out its reputation for "quick thinking, ferocity and barely bridled ambition."
WME Merger:
On April 27, 2009, WMA and the Endeavor Talent Agency announced that they were forming William Morris Endeavor, or WME. Endeavor executives Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell were widely seen as the architects of the merger and quickly became the Co-CEOs of WME.
In 2011, Emanuel was quoted in a Financial Times profile about the company, saying "We built a culture where people are rewarded for taking risks." Emanuel and Whitesell have implemented several leadership strategies to boost the productivity of their agents, most notably, the "Farmhouse" training program.
Following the merger, WME moved its headquarters into the offices of Endeavor. The company now takes up several floors at 9601 Wilshire Boulevard in the heart of Beverly Hills. Additionally, WME has offices in New York, London, Miami, and Nashville.
Company Expansion:
Since the merger, WME has grown to include several subsidiary companies and expanded divisions. Fortune named Co-CEOs Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell to their 2010 "Businessperson of the Year" list, acknowledging their corporate growth strategies. Emanuel had previously been recognized as a 21st-century "super agent" by both The Wall Street Journal and The Guardian, as well as an Advertising Age "Influencer".
Shortly after the merger, WME helped launch the investment group Raine, which aligned the company with properties like Vice Media and Zumba Fitness. In 2010 WME partnered with RED Interactive, giving clients access to an award-winning digital advertising agency. Two years later, they formed an alliance with the social media management firm TheAudience, partnering with digital entrepreneur Sean Parker and executing social campaigns for properties like the Seth MacFarlane motion picture Ted and the Coachella Music Festival. 2013 brought a strategic partnership between WME and creative music agency Jingle Punks, which creates, publishes and licenses music. WME is also an investor in the e-commerce platform OpenSky, which was named one of America's "Most Promising Companies" by Forbes. In 2013, Whitesell and Emanuel were profiled in Fast Company, highlighting the company's digital growth.
In July 2013, WME acquired a minority stake in the global creative agency Droga5. The partnership combines the companies’ advertising and entertainment resources, creating new opportunities for their collective clients in the branded content and marketing space. Founded by David Droga, Droga5 was named Adweek’s 2012 Agency of the Year and oversees accounts for Coca-Cola, Motorola and Spotify.
Describing the partnership, The New York Times wrote, “As consumers increasingly ignore traditional advertising and are bombarded with a constant stream of content, both online and offline, advertisers have been forced to find more compelling ways to get their attention. WME could help provide the answer given its substantial reach in television, publishing, music, film and theater."
On December 18, 2013, WME and Silver Lake announced the acquisition of IMG for $2.4 billion. WME’s Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell will serve as co-CEOs.
On January 21, 2015, it was announced that WME had acquired Global eSports Management (GEM), an international agency representing various esports and professional video game players and personalities.
On September 14, 2015, it was announced that WME had acquired the Miss Universe Organization from Donald Trump. On September 23 it was announced that WME/IMG would be partnering with Turner Broadcasting to create a televised Counter-Strike: Global Offensive esports league that be broadcast on TBS in 2016.
WME and Silver Lake:
On May 2, 2012, WME and Silver Lake, a technology-focused private equity firm based in Silicon Valley, signed an agreement for Silver Lake to acquire a 31% minority stake in the agency. A new executive committee, consisting of Co-CEOs Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell and Silver Lake Partners Managing Director Egon Durban, leads the company's growth strategy and investment activities. The Silver Lake deal drew the attention of several leading financial publications, including Forbes, The Financial Times, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
Departments:
WME's agents specialize in a broad variety of entertainment sectors. Company divisions include Talent, Motion Pictures, Scripted Television, Non-Scripted Television, Music, Literary, Theatre, Commercials, Speakers, and Branded Lifestyle.
Motion Pictures:
WME's motion picture clients represent a diverse mix of filmmakers, actors, writers and directors.
Music:
WME represents music artists across nearly every genre, including rock, pop, urban, country, electronic, Christian, Latin and adult contemporary. WME's artists have had a huge impact on the live touring industry, leading Billboard to name the company "Top Touring Agency" of 2012.
Department head Marc Geiger was ranked 9th on Billboard's 2013 "Power 100 List" and company partners Sara Newkirk Simon and Samantha Kirby Yohwere featured in Billboard's 2013 "Women In Music" issue. Sara Newkirk Simon was also featured in Billboard’s 2013 “40 Under 40” list along with Todd Jacobs. WME's Kirk Sommer was named "Most Influential Agent" by Paper Magazine in 2012 and agents Joel Zimmerman and Samantha Kirby Yoh were named in the "50 Most Influential People in EDM" list by In The Mix.
WME's Electronic Music division represents some of the most prominent DJ's in the music business. The EMD agents were largely credited as the architects of the Las Vegas DJ residency business model.
Television:
WME represents artists from the scripted and non-scripted television space.
Literary:
WME's Literary Department is co-headed by Suzanne Gluck, Eric Simonoff, and WME board member Jennifer Rudolph Walsh. In 2013, client Sheryl Sandberg released her debut book, Lean In, which topped multiple bestseller lists and sold 140,000 copies its first week of publication. The company's Literary Department also helps authors branch out into mediums like television and film, negotiating deals for book-to-screen adaptations. WME's UK Literary Department is headed by Simon Trewin.
Theatre:
WME's Theatre Department represents actors, directors, writers and choreographers. They also bring motion picture and television talent to the stage. Additionally, the department transitions theatre clients into new mediums, helping to break out TV and film talent and expand productions into new formats.
Speakers:
WME's Speakers Division represents a selection of speakers from a wide variety of fields, including national and global affairs, media relations, business and economics, health and science, humor, and sports and motivation. The Lectures Department also handles speaking opportunities for clients across all WME divisions.
Commercials:
WME's Commercials Division helps partner clients with notable brands like AT&T, Apple, Dior, Samsung, Gucci, Mercedes, Pepsi and Absolut Vodka. It covers commercials, animation, non-performing public appearances, direct marketing, home shopping and tour sponsorships. The department is also involved in client voiceover opportunities for commercials, animation and video games.
Branded Lifestyle:
In 2007, WME Board Member Jon Rosen launched the agency's Branded Lifestyle Group, which aims to build multiplatform businesses for personalities and brands in all areas of lifestyle entertainment. Clients are able to successfully utilize cross multiple mediums, including television, fashion, literature and consumer products.
Digital:
WME Digital represents properties in the digital space. WME Digital also leads the agency's start-up investing practice.
Philanthropy:
In 2009, the partners of William Morris Endeavor formed the WME Foundation, which promotes arts and education to disadvantaged children. Clients whose charities have benefitted from the Foundation's services include Charlize Theron, Hank Azaria, Usher, and Alicia Keys. In 2011, the company created Camp Summer Eagle and Camp Summer Lion, which provide donations and activities for schoolchildren in Compton, California and New York.
WME Retreat:
Dubbed a "brain spa" by The Wall Street Journal, WME has hosted an annual retreat for its agents.
References:
> Garrahan, Matthew (December 6, 2011). "Rewriting the Hollywood script". Financial Times. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
> "What Talent-Agency Merger Could Mean for Brands". Ad Age. April 28, 2009.
> Weisbord, Merrily (1991). Our future selves : love, life, sex, and aging. Berkeley, Calif.: North Atlantic Books. p. 157. ISBN 978-1556431456.
> Galloway, Stephen (2013-03-05). "Jeff Berg Speaks: Plans for New Agency, What Really Happened at ICM (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter.
> Cieply, Michael. "Agents Replaying a Hollywood Drama". The New York Times.
> Littleton, Cynthia (2009-04-27). "WMA, Endeavor approve merger". Variety.
> "It's A Takeover, Not A Merger". LA Weekly. May 28, 2009.
> Garrahan, Matthew (December 6, 2011). "Rewriting the Hollywood script". Financial Times. Retrieved April 30, 2012.
> Lashinsky, Adam (May 23, 2013). "Hi, It's Ari @#$%ing Emanuel, and I plan to shake up Hollywood". Fortune. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
> Finke, Nikki (2009-10-09). "WME Will Stay In Endeavor Headquarters Instead Of Moving To New Morris Building". Deadline.
> P.N. (November 19, 2010). "Businessperson of the Year". Fortune. Retrieved April 30, 2012.
> Sabbagh, Dan (2011-03-16). "Natalie Portman sparks Hollywood battle". The Guardian.
> Hampp, Andrew (2011-01-03). "Influencer: Ari Emanuel, William Morris Endeavor Agency". Advertising Age.
> Karmin, Craig (2012-01-27). "How a Parking Garage Stymied Hollywood's Super Agent". Wall Street Journal.
> Lattman, Peter (September 19, 2010). "Ex-Bankers Start Fund to Invest in Media". The New York Times. Retrieved March 29, 2011.
> "RED Interactive Agency". Retrieved March 29, 2011.
> Empson, Rip. "TheAudience: A Stealthy, Celeb-Driven Startup Co-founded By Sean Parker, Ari Emanuel & Oliver Luckett". Tech Crunch. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
> Barnes, Brooks. "A-Listers, Meet Your Online Megaphone". New York Times. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
> "America's Most Promising Companies". Forbes. Retrieved 2013.
> Laporte, Nicole (2013-03-18). "WME's Agent Provocateurs Ari Emanuel And Patrick Whitesell". Fast Company.
> Beltrone, Gabriel (2012-12-10). "Droga's Delicious World". AdWeek.
> Vega, Tanzina (2013-07-11). "William Morris to Invest in Droga5, an Ad Agency". New York Times.
> www.deadline.com/2013/12/wme-silver-lake-acquire-img-worldwide/
> Zumberge, Marianne (January 21, 2015). "WME–IMG Acquires Global eSports Management Gaming Agency". Variety. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
> variety.com/2015/biz/news/donald-trump-miss-universe-wmeimg-acquisition-1201592910/
> Spangler, Todd (September 23, 2015). "Turner, WME/IMG Form E-Sports League, With TBS to Air Live Events". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
> "William Morris Endeavor Entertainment and Silver Lake Announce Strategic Partnership". PR Newswire. Retrieved May 27, 2012.
> Chon, Gina (May 2, 2012). "Silver Lake Buys Stake in WME Agency". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 8, 2012.
> "William Morris Endeavor Entertainment and Silver Lake Announce Strategic Partnership". PR Newswire. May 2, 2012. Retrieved May 8, 2012.
> "Silver Lake takes stake in talent agency". Financial Times. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
> Savitz, Eric (May 6, 2012). "Silver Lake Agrees To Take Stake In William Morris". Forbes. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
> de la Merced, Michael (May 2, 2012). "Silver Lake Takes Stake in William Morris Endeavor". New York Times. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
> "Silver Lake Takes Stake in William Morris Endeavor". Wall Street Journal. May 2, 2012. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
> Staff. "Billboard Touring Awards: U2, Journey, Jason Aldean Win Big". Billboard. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
> Staff. "Billboard Power 100". Billboard. Retrieved February 3, 2013.
> Staff. "Women In Music 2012". Billboard. Retrieved November 28, 2012.
> Pini, Gary. "The Music Industry's 5 Most Influential Booking Agents". Paper Magazine. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
> Staff. "The 50 Most Powerful People In EDM 2013". In The Mix. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
> "William Morris Agency Forms Electronic Division". Billboard.
> Mason, Kerri (March 21, 2012). "Exclusive: Skrillex, David Guetta, Diplo, Many More Added to Wynn Resident-DJ Roster". Billboard.
> Italie, Hillel (2013-03-13). "'Lean In' Book Sales Are Big Win For Sheryl Sandberg". Huffington Post.
> "Ready Set 'Go' for Visa".
> Elliott, Stuart (October 28, 2004). "When Wireless Networks Merge, So Do Their Promotional Campaigns". The New York Times.
> "Trident Gum's Fake TV Show". The Wall Street Journal.
> "Samsung Propel "Ozzy"". Adweek. November 13, 2008. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
> "Marketplace Roundup".
> "Gucci Taps Rihanna for Ads on UNICEF Collaboration".
> "Josh Brolin Stars in AMV Campaign for Mercedes".
> "Absolut Vodka and Kanye West think it's easy to be Yeezy".
> Salkin, Allen (April 19, 2009). "He's the Man Who Sets the Table". The New York Times. Retrieved March 29, 2011.
> "JHRTS-NY Recap: A Conversation with Doug Herzog". HRTS.org.
> Bierly, Mandi (March 23, 2012). "'Burning Love' comes to E!". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
> Ponzar, Amanda. "Idea Seeds: How to make business-cause partnerships a win-win". Retrieved August 25, 2011.
> Littleton, Cynthia. "Campers get star treatment from WME". Retrieved July 18, 2011.
> Orden, Erica (2012-02-16). "Ari Emanuel Hosts a Brain Spa for His Agents". The Wall Street Journal.
External links:
Official website
WME Foundation Website
WME Speakers Website
Further reading:
Rose, Frank. The Agency: William Morris and the Hidden History of Show Business. ISBN 978-0887307492.
Rensin, David. The Mailroom: Hollywood History from the Bottom Up. ISBN 978-0345442345.
Haskell, Sam Haskell. Promises I Made My Mother. ISBN 978-0345506559.
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Silver Lake Partners
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Lake_Partners
Silver Lake is an American private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in technology, technology-enabled and related industries. Founded in 1999, the firm is one of the largest technology investors in the world. Notable among its investments are Avago, Dell, Alibaba, Go Daddy, William Morris Endeavor, IMG Worldwide, Avaya, Sabre Holdings, Skype, GLG, Seagate Technology and NASDAQ. Silver Lake is headquartered in Menlo Park with offices in San Mateo, Cupertino, New York, London, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo.
Investment Strategies
Silver Lake operates through three primary businesses, all focused on technology investments:
1. Silver Lake Partners makes private equity investments in large cap technology companies. Silver Lake Partners was the firm's original business founded by Jim Davidson, Dave Roux, Roger McNamee and Glenn Hutchins, and comprises the bulk of the firm's assets under management.
2. Silver Lake Sumeru – focuses on technology investments in middle-market companies. The Sumeru business was formerly known as Shah Capital founded by Ajay Shah.
3. Silver Lake Kraftwerk a growth oriented fund focused on energy, energy technology and resources investing.
4. Silver Lake Waterman a growth capital, via a proprietary Growth Debt product, to later-stage growth companies in the technology and technology-enabled industries.
History
Silver Lake was founded in 1999, at the height of the late 1990s technology boom to make private equity investments in mature technology companies as opposed to the startups pursued actively by venture capitalists.
Among the firm's founders were the four amigos:
1. Jim Davidson who had led the Technology Investment Banking business at Hambrecht & Quist;
2. David Roux who had an operational and entrepreneurial background having served as Chairman and CEO of Liberate Technologies, executive vice president at Oracle Corporation and senior vice president at Lotus Development;
3. Roger McNamee, who had previously co-founded Integral Capital Partners, a hybrid investment fund that made investments in publicly traded companies and venture capital investments in early stage startups; and
*4. Glenn Hutchins, who came from Blackstone Group and served as a Special Advisor on economic and healthcare policy in the early Clinton Administration and previously worked at Thomas H. Lee Partners;.
The firm raised its first fund, Silver Lake Partners, with $2.3 billion of investor commitments. Silver Lake's first fund was among the best performing funds of its vintage.
The firm's second fund, Silver Lake Partners II was raised in 2004 with $3.6 billion of commitments.
The firm's third fund, Silver Lake Partners III was raised in 2007 with $9.6 billion of commitments. Also in 2007, the firm launched its middle-market investment business, Silver Lake Sumeru, hiring Ajay Shah and the former investment team of Shah Capital Partners. Sumeru completed fundraising for its debut fund in 2008 with $1.1 billion of capital. Silver Lake also launched its credit focused business, Silver Lake Financial in 2007. Silver Lake Financial is headed by Roger Wittlin, who joined the firm together with a group of staff from Sutter Credit Strategies, a division of Wells Fargo.
In 2013, the firm raised its fourth fund, Silver Lake Partners IV, which closed in 2013 with $10.3 billion in committed capital.
Key personnel
In 2004, McNamee left Silver Lake to found Elevation Partners, an entertainment and media focused private equity firm, with Bono.[8]
On December 20, 2007 Cisco Systems Inc.'s Development Chief, Charles Giancarlo, announced his departure from Cisco and his new position as partner and managing director at Silver Lake.
In January 2008, as the mid-2000s buyout boom was coming to an end, Silver Lake sold a 9.9% stake in its management company to CalPERS for $275 million, implying a valuation of approximately $2.8 billion for the firm.
Contemporaneously with the raising of the firm's fourth large-cap fund in 2013, 'Silver Lakes new four amigos', a group of four investment professionals Mike Bingle, Egon Durban, Ken Hao and Greg Mondre, all of whom had been with the firm since its founding took leadership positions as Managing Partners in the firm alongside founder Jim Davidson.
In October 2013, it was announced that Skype's Chief Operating Officer and Development Chief, Mark Gillett would depart from Microsoft and succeed Charles Giancarlo as a managing director and head of value creation, while Mr Giancarlo would transition to a be a senior advisor to the firm.
Investments
Since inception in 1999, Silver Lake has made investments through leveraged buyout transactions, minority growth investments and PIPE investments in over 40 companies.
Silver Lake's current and realized portfolio of investments includes or has included technology industry companies such as Avago Technologies, AVI-SPL, Business Objects, Flextronics, Gartner, Instinet, IPC Systems, MCI Inc., MultiPlan, NASDAQ, NetScout Systems, NXP Semiconductors, Sabre Holdings, Seagate Technology, Serena Software, SunGard, Talend, TD Ameritrade, Technicolor SA, UGS Corp., and Virtu Financial.
The following table details some of Silver Lake's private equity investments:
1
Investment: EMC
Year: 2015
Company Description:
On 12 October 2015, EMC announced that they have agreed on a buy-out by Michael Dell, MSD Capital, and Silver Lake for $33.15 per share in a complicated cash transaction which includes tracking stock in VMware, which will remain a publicly traded company. The deal, when completed, will total $67 billion, the largest technology buyout since the 2013 Dell buyout. Dell continues to hedge its bets that mergers are the way to expand the company when others are betting that spinoffs and smaller companies are better.
2
Investment: DELL
Year: 2013
Company Description:
On 5 February 2013, Dell Inc. announced that they have agreed on a buy-out by Michael Dell and Silver Lake for $13.65 per share in cash. The shares of founder and CEO Michael Dell and some of its key management are not included in this deal. Microsoft additionally provided $2 billion in the form of a loan to assist with the buy-out. If the deal is completed Dell will be de-listed from NASDAQ and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and will again be a fully privately owned company as it was before its first Initial public offering. According to Michael Dell this move will make it easier to work on a long-term growth strategy as the company can make choices that will pay out on the longer term, without the need to address to demands of (short term) individual share-holders.
The deal was completed on October 30, 2013, and at $24.4 billion was the largest technology buyout ever, surpassing the 2006 buyout of Freescale Semiconductor for $17.5 billion. Other smaller investors are MSD Capital, an investment firm to manage the wealth of Michael Dell, Microsoft with a $2 billion loan and several debt-facilities from banks like Barclays, Credit Suisse, Bank of America and Royal Bank of Canada.
3
Investment: SKYPE
Year: 2009
Company Description:
Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board announce the acquisition of 65% of Skype for $1.9 billion from E-Bay, valuing the business at $2.75 billion. In May 2011, Microsoft agreed to acquire Skype for $8.5 billion in cash.
4
Investment: AVAYA
Year: 2007
Company Description:
Silver Lake and TPG Capital completed an $8.2 billion leveraged buyout of the enterprise telephony and call center technology company that was formerly a unit of Lucent.
5
Investment: SABRE HOLDINGS
Year: 2006
Company Description:
Silver Lake and TPG Capital announced a deal to buy Sabre Holdings, which operates Travelocity, Sabre Travel Network and Sabre Airline Solutions, for approximately $4.3 billion in cash, plus the assumption of $550 million in debt. Earlier in 2006, Blackstone acquired Sabre's chief competitor Travelport.
6
Investment: NXP SEMICONDUCTORS
Year: 2006
Company Description:
In August 2006, a consortium of Silver Lake, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and AlpInvest Partners acquired a controlling 80.1% share of semiconductors unit of Philips for €6.4 billion. The new company, based in the Netherlands, was renamed NXP Semiconductors.
7
Investment: SUNGUARD
Year: 2006
Company Description:
SunGard was acquired by a consortium of seven private equity investment firms in a transaction valued at $11.3 billion. The partners in the acquisition were Silver Lake, which led the deal as well as Bain Capital, the Blackstone Group, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Providence Equity Partners, and TPG Capital. This represented the largest leveraged buyout completed since the takeover of RJR Nabisco at the end of the 1980s leveraged buyout boom. Also, at the time of its announcement, SunGard would be the largest buyout of a technology company in history, a distinction it would cede to the buyout of Freescale Semiconductor. The SunGard transaction is also notable in the number of firms involved in the transaction. The involvement of seven firms in the consortium was criticized by investors in private equity who considered cross-holdings among firms to be generally unattractive.
8
Investment: AVAGO TECHNOLOGIES
Year: 2005
Company Description:
In 2005, the semiconductor division of Agilent was acquired by Silver Lake and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, to form Avago Technologies, one of the largest privately held semiconductor companies in the world. In 2009, Avago completed a $650 million initial public offering.
Reuters news service reports that Silver Lake Partners is among more than a dozen private equity firms subpoenaed by New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman regarding a widely used tax strategy within the industry that may illegally cut their tax bills by hundreds of millions of dollars.
Eric T. Schneiderman (born December 31, 1954) is an American attorney and politician. He serves as the 65th and current New York Attorney General. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Prior to becoming Attorney General, Schneiderman served in the New York State Senate.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Schneiderman
> 65th Attorney General of New York
Incumbent
Assumed office - January 1, 2011
Governor Andrew Cuomo
Preceded by Andrew Cuomo
> Member of the New York Senate from the 31st district
In office January 1, 2003 – December 31, 2010
Preceded by Efrain Gonzalez
Succeeded by Adriano Espaillat
> Member of the New York Senate from the 30th district
In office January 1, 1999 – December 31, 2002
Preceded by Franz Leichter
Succeeded by David Paterson
Controversy:
After the sale of Skype to Microsoft in 2011, Silver Lake was accused of unfairly depriving an employee of an options windfall. At issue was a clause in the Skype employee stock option grant agreement. The repurchase right gave Skype the authority to buy back shares at the grant price, when an employee left the company, even when those shares were vested.
References:
> Investment professionals as of 2015
> Silver Lake's New Four Amigos Dealmaker, September, 2007.
> fortune.com/2013/02/10/silver-lake-and-the-deal-of-the-next-century-fortune-1999/
> Wall Street's New Alchemist (Glenn Hutchins Profile). BusinessWeek, August 8, 2005
> Silver Lake Partners closes $3.6bn private equity fund. AltAssets, April 13, 2004
> Silver Lake to Raise $10 Billion for Technology Fund. February 6, 2007
> Silver Lake Sumeru closes on $1.1bn. AltAssets, May 7, 2008
> Bono Riffs on Silicon Valley Buyouts With Video Games, Forbes. Bloomberg, January 23, 2005
> Sorkin, Andrew Ross. "California Pension Fund Expected to Take Big Stake in Silver Lake, at $275 Million." New York Times, January 9, 2008
> manual4ever.com/doc-file/silver-lakes-new-four-amigos
> "Departing Skype Exec Gillett to Become Head of "Value Creation" at Silver Lake". Retrieved 2013-11-01.
> "Silver Lake Announces Appointment Of Mark Gillett As Head Of Value Creation". Retrieved 2013-11-02.
> In Takeover of EMC, Dell Makes Ambitious Bet
> Official Dell press release on (leveraged) buyout by Michael Dell and Silver Lake, 5 February 2013. Visited: 5 February 2013
> Berkowitz, Ben; Edwin Chan (2013-02-05). "Dell to go private in landmark $24.4 billion deal". Reuters. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
> Alden, William (2013-02-05). "Dell's Record-Breaking Buyout". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
> Financial Times website: Michael Dell orchestrates $24bn buyout deal, 5 February 2013
> EBay to Sell 65 Percent Of Skype For $1.9 Billion. New York Times, September 1, 2009
> eBay Inc. Signs Definitive Agreement to Sell Skype in Deal Valuing Communications Business at $2.75 Billion
> Skype Investors Reap Windfall in Deal With Microsoft. New York Times, May 10, 2011
> The Big Winners in the Skype Deal. New York Times, May 10, 2011
> Investment Firms Pick Up Avaya For $8.2 Billion
> Sorkin, Andrew Ross. "2 Firms Pay $4.3 Billion for Sabre." New York Times, December 12, 2006.
> Bloomberg News (2006-08-04). "Technology; Royal Philips Sells Unit for $4.4 Billion". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
> KKR in deal to buy Philips Semiconductors. Forbes, August 2, 2006
> "Capital Firms Agree to Buy SunGard Data in Cash Deal." Bloomberg L.P., March 29, 2005
> "Avago files for $400m IPO". 2008-08-28.
> Avago Tech. (AVGO) Sees IPO Price of $13-$15. Street Insider, July 27, 2009
> Avago Technologies Limited Prices Initial Public Offering. MSN Money, August 5, 2009
> Why Some Skypers Are Seeing Red. BloombergBusinessweek Magazine, June 23, 2011
External links:
Silver Lake (company website)
They needed "Bigger Boats"....
Latest WMA-Endeavor Merger Update: Hollywood History In The Making Today: Endeavor And William Morris Vote Yes
by Nikki Finke
April 27, 2009
deadline.com/2009/04/latest-wma-endeavor-merger-update-9098/
6 PM: Three of the Endeavor partners who will sit on the new WME Entertainment board — Ari Emanuel, Patrick Whitesell, and Adam Venit — are at William Morris offices right now introducing themselves to and shaking hands with the WMA agents and staff. “It’s eerily quiet,” one insider tells me. Earlier, Morris boss Jim Wiatt went to Endeavor and introduced himself.
2:40 PM: WME ENTERTAINMENT IS A GO! Here’s the official statement:
ENDEAVOR AND THE WILLIAM MORRIS AGENCY MERGE
Two of the leading entertainment agencies reach historic agreement
(Beverly Hills, CA — April 27, 2009) In a landmark deal, two of the leading entertainment agencies, Endeavor and the William Morris Agency, today announced a merger of both companies. The new agency will be called William Morris Endeavor (WME) Entertainment. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to be completed in the second quarter.
The leadership team for the new agency will be Jim Wiatt, Chairman, and Ariel Emanuel, Patrick Whitesell and Dave Wirtschafter, Co-CEOs.
Wiatt, Emanuel, Whitesell and Wirtschafter join company directors John Fogelman, Peter Grosslight, Rick Rosen, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh and Adam Venit on the nine-member board that will guide the agency.
This historical agreement brings together two of the industry’s most respected entertainment agencies spanning motion pictures, television, music, theatre, publishing, commercials, sports, marketing and below-the-line production.
2:39 PM: WMA ALSO VOTED TO MERGE WITH ENDEAVOR.
2:15 PM: ENDEAVOR VOTED 100% TO MERGE WITH WILLIAM MORRIS.
An email went out to the entire Endeavor staff calling for a 3 PM meeting.
There was a point last month when the meetings between partners of the 111-year-old William Morris and 14-year-old Endeavor agencies had been fraught with tension and the merger hung by a thread. The reluctance to combine wasn’t on the WMA side because CEO Jim Wiatt and President Dave Wirtschafter were eager for this deal to happen. Rather, it was from Endeavor’s side because of fears there was too much risk and not enough upside. It took some time, but eventually both sides came together on the deal’s economics. Adding to the problem was the polar opposite corporate cultures of the two agencies. WMA had been obstinate when it cames to the two agencies’ discussions about who should stay and who should go if and when the two tenpercenteries merge. Endeavor’s Ari Emanuel, for instance, was screaming at Wiatt, and battles broke out among some of their subordinates. Eventually, that too was worked out.
The rumors of a William Morris-Endeavor merger had been around for months and months, and I know some phone calls were exchanged after the end of the writers strike a year ago. But the reality is that these deals aren’t done overnight: like everything in Hollywood that involves ego and money, they’re complicated because they combine different agency cultures as well as partners and personnel. (Who else remembers back to 1992 when William Morris acquired Triad? The two agencies had been talking for 17 months; and, even when those chats became very serious, the deal points took five months. And let’s not forget the back story behind the ICM-Broder merger.) But I was the first to report that talks had heated up between upstart Endeavor and venerable William Morris to the point where I was being told by mid-February the odds were “70/30” that the two agencies would do a deal.
Endeavor’s Ari Emanuel had been on the prowl: he even had several meals with ICM’s investor Rizvi Traverse that didn’t go anywhere. But Endeavor-WMA looked to be a great fit: William Morris with a powerhouse music division but also a motion picture talent department needing more marquee names and a flagging television department except for unscripted fare. Endeavor, on the other hand, had been signing marquee names and packaging primetime series galore and wanted that music money. One agency is strong where the other is weak. But the problem was what it’s always been with these kind of mergers: the alpha male owners of major agencies always want to be in charge. After one particularly ugly meeting between the two agencies, a depressed Emanuel started using the phrase, “We all need a bigger boat.”
Repeated battles even had broken out over what to call the new agency.
One of the other hurdles to overcome was the tax consequences of any deal. It all had to do with “LLC” and “S” corporations, which could have meant writing checks in the millions of dollars to the U.S. government. Also, I found out there was at one point a 3rd company involved as an investor and partner. Then I reported on March 13th that the tax issues had been resolved.
That the deal was proceeding became clearer when I heard that founding partners at Endeavor had been phoning clients to make sure they’d signed their agency contracts.
Both sides now realize that any newly merged company has to consist of only 150 core movie/tv agents at most. The mantra of these negotiations is “make it smaller”. That means, of WMA’s 150 agents, and Endeavor’s 100 agents, about 100 from the combined total will have to be let go. And since CAA’s Richard Lovett has pursued a policy of 100% marketshare when it comes to clients, the new WMA-Endeavor is making as its goal to rep only the elite Top 2%.
The prospect of inevitable consolidation has led to both agencies finding themselves Rumor Central and denying that wholesale layoffs have started when they haven’t — yet. But they will. (See below for all my merger updates.)
10 AM: I’ve confirmed there’s an Endeavor vote this afternoon, which is when there’ll also be the William Morris vote. That’s right: the merger creating WME Entertainment has not yet officially been approved. Endeavor, now with Tom Strickler’s resignation, is expected to vote 100% for the merger. But there still is speculation that the decision won’t be 100% on the WMA side. (I understand that the William Morris side even held a Saturday session.) There will be a joint WMA-Endeavor meeting sometime this week with all the lawyers present. Then there’ll be Guild and ATA and state and federal government approvals necessary for the two agencies to legally merge. So that’s still at least 2 1/2 weeks away (as I’ve always reported). Don’t expect some big whoop-de-do announcement today. Because it would rob both agencies of what should be a major media blitz in May when everything’s official. Otherwise, both agencies will get swamped with media queries about who’s staying and who’s exiting — which will make for a lot of uncomfortable conversations which might not be legally advisable. Today, the agency landscape historically changes.
8 AM NEWS: Endeavor co-founder Tom Strickler has just resigned from Endeavor. He sent around a gracious email announcing that he was leaving the representation of writers and directors. There was always known to be friction between him and Ari Emanuel over the direction of the agency, even though the two go back so many years and have been friends. Ari even got emotional when he told the staff about Tom’s decision. Even though Strickler surprised everyone with his announcement this morning (he was at all the meetings and never hinted he wouldn’t be part of the merged enterprise), it wasn’t unexpected considering that Strickler was left off the newly merged company board. The word is that Robert Newman will run the new motion picture lit department. I hear that, as part of his resignation, Strickler savvily negotiated his share of the old company’s receivables plus an exit fee of half what the other board members are getting going forward. Tom has been against the idea of Endeavor merging even going back to when the agency was in serious talks with United Talent — and would have resigned then, too.
Speaking of United Talent, I’ve confirmed that one of the agency’s owners picked up the phone to William Morris boss Jim Wiatt about a month ago and said, “If you’re not too far down the road already with Endeavor, you might consider merging with us instead.” Here’s the thing: the other UTA owners didn’t know this phone call was being placed. That said, it’s unclear whether the goal was to really merge or to play with peoples’ heads.
I reported last week that WMA motion picture lit agent David Lonner and Steve Rabineau didn’t want to be part of the merger (WMA Agents Lonner & Rabineau In Play). Now Lonner is talking to Jimmy Miller and to Management 360 about coming on board as a manager, as well as about being an agent at United Talent. But I hear Lonner is being clear that he doesn’t know if J.J. Abrams will come with him. (At WMA, Lonner reps JJ with motion picture head John Fogelman.) Meanwhile, WMA’s Steve Rabineau is set to move to UTA.
I hear Mark Itkin, whose contract at WMA goes until at least 2012, is ready to make that move to CAA and fill the reality leadership position that has sat vacant all this time after Michael Camacho was pushed out. Since then, Camacho has been killing CAA in reality at UTA.
It will be at least 14 months before WMA’s new building is ready to house the newly merged WMA-Endeavor agency. So, until then, both agencies will “mix and match” buildings, I’m told. I hear that television will be housed at Endeavor under Rick Rosen. And Endeavor’s motion picture department will move to the old Morris building. And, yes, Ari Emanuel, will move his office to WMA to be near Jim Wiatt’s. (Didn’t I tell you this was going to get fun quickly?)
So I hear that, back in March, the first meeting between WMA book agent Jennifer Rudolph Walsh and Endeavor book agent Richard Abate went really, really badly. Apparently, the two hated one another. There was even an unsuccessful attempt by WMA to push Abate out. Ari pushed back. Soon everything calmed down. Why? I’m told it was because Ari saw that WMA has a $20 million book business whereas Endeavor’s is still new. And that trumps personality conflicts.
1. Aaron Kaplan’s $11 Million/5-Year Deal
2. The Name Of Merged WMA-END Is…
3. The $300 Million Dollar Agency Merger?
4. Board Of Merged WMA-Endeavor
5. Endeavor Partners To Meet On Merger
6. WMA Board Heard Merger Presentation
7. WMA Agents Lonner & Rabineau In Play
8. Another WMA-Endeavor Merger Update, Part II
9. William Morris-Endeavor Merger: Latest
10. Another Sign This Merger Isn’t Done…
11. WMA-Endeavor Merger Update: Bring On The Lawyers!
12. WMA-Endeavor Meeting Inconclusive…
13. WMA-Endeavor Merger: Today’s Meeting
14. URGENT! Endeavor-WMA Merger Hangs By Thread: Stop Or Go Decision Thursday
15. Endeavor Finds Itself Rumor Central
16. Will It Be WME Or EWM Or Neither?
17. Endeavor/WMA Merger News Of The Day
18. Look Who’s Following An Agency Merger
19. Endeavor And WMA Meeting Over Merger
20. UPDATE: That WMA/Endeavor Merger
21. IT’S FOR REAL: Endeavor And William Morris Talking About Teaming Up
22. What’s Really Happening Inside Morris?
23. William Morris Agency Expands Board To Include More Music
Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy
William Morris Agency Expands Board To Include Younger Agents And More Music
deadline.com/2008/06/william-morris-agency-expands-board-to-include-younger-agents-and-more-music-reps-6124/
EXCLUSIVE: In the old days, to be a board member at the William Morris Agency, you had to be an “Elder” with white hair, a slight stoop, Red Buttons as a client, and pants pulled up to the waist. wma.jpgAs of today, the Morris board is much younger, almost hipper, suddenly rockin’. Who’d a thunk it? I’m told that the tenpercentery just added these agents to its 20-member governing body and upped them to the rank of executive vice presidents: Paul Bricault, head of corporate consulting; John Ferriter, head of non-scripted television; Marc Geiger, head of contemporary music; Aaron Kaplan, head of scripted television; Jon Rosen, head of East Coast television; Rick Shipp, co-head of WMA Nashville; David Snyder, head of adult contemporary music.
To briefly list their clients, Bricault works with MySpace, General Motors, Anheuser-Busch and oversees. Ferriter has Ryan Seacrest Inc, Larry King, Chelsea Handler and also oversees other clients. Geiger co-founded Lalapalooza and reps Nine Inch Nails among other groups. Kalan has Darren Star, Barry Sonenfeld and also oversees. Rosen is Mr. Food Network with clients Rachel Ray, Giada Di Laurentiis, Bobby Flay, etc. Shipp has all those country music acts like Brooks & Dunn, Rascal Flats, etc. Snyder reps Herbie Hancock, Kenny G, Natalie Cole, Julio Inglesias.
What many don’t realize is that while Morris in the old days was a TV cash cow on the one-time strength of the syndication market, its influence in television (especially scripted network shows) has waned in recent years. Its motion picture department boasting a small cadre of Triple-A list directors/writers/actors has always been an insignificant profit center. So the agency is now relying on the powerhouse music division to bring in the big bucks what with clients like Kanye West, Foo Fighters, The Eagles, The Killers, Amy Winehouse, Weezer, Pearl Jam, The Beastie Boys, Rage Against The Machine, Rihanna. (WMA booked over 22,000 dates last year alone…) Meanwhile, chairman and CEO Jim Wiatt likes to joke how he now finds himself among the oldest guys on the board versus a lot of the newcomers who are only in their 30s and 40s. Interestingly, there hasn’t been a board shake-up since I wrote about The Big One back in 2004. (See All Shook Up in LA Weekly.)
From the Comment Section:
btlt • on Jun 20, 2008:
“the Morris board is younger, hipper, and rockin’.”
Look everyone, it’s the new and improved “Old Boys” club, 7 positions…
all going to the younger, hipper, and rockin’ penises. WOW so 2008, not a woman in the bunch.
Ct • on Jun 20, 2008:
Looks like WM is gearing up for something big…
They’ve got their soldiers in line, who will they be attacking?
Bd • on Jun 20, 2008:
This is merely an extra title. WMA has a smaller board which actually makes the decisions and has the real power.
OhP - on Jul 1, 2008:
1) WMA never puts anyone on the board without kicking someone off, you should look into who has been asked to step down or is slowly being pushed out of the company (at least two of those women are under pressure, it’s still a boys club).
2) It’s true, there is a smaller board, a compensation committee that really holds the power and decides salaries and bonuses, then gives themselves additional bonuses in March, unbeknownst to the rest of the company…it’s such a racket.
(2007 News, before 2009 mergers)
.......................................................
Bono Riffs on Silicon Valley Buyouts With Video Games, Forbes
By Monee Fields-White - January 23, 2007
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aItvdqTc15ew
Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- In late 2003, Silicon Valley investor Roger McNamee got a phone call from rock star Bono with a proposal. The U2 lead singer, who'd previously sought business advice from McNamee, had an idea for investing in the entertainment industry, McNamee says.
``Bono had a big idea but needed a partner,'' he says. ``A mutual friend reminded Bono that he knew me.''
Less than one year later, Elevation Partners LP was born. The Menlo Park, California-based private equity firm, which includes Bono, whose real name is Paul Hewson, and McNamee as managing directors, raised almost $1.9 billion from more than 50 pension funds, institutions, college endowments and individuals for its first fund, which began investing in 2005.
Elevation, which is named after a U2 song, is looking at media and entertainment companies that are in a position to benefit from technology, says McNamee, 50, a former technology stock analyst turned venture capitalist. ``I look for places where technology is disrupting the status quo,'' McNamee says, leaning forward in his blue leather chair in a conference room furnished with a video-arcade game machine.
Spending by consumers and businesses on online access, content and advertising will increase 14.5 percent to $74 billion by 2009 from 2004, estimates New York-based Veronis Suhler Stevenson LLC, a private equity media investor. For its first fund, Elevation aims to acquire stakes in eight to 12 music, video game and print media companies, ranging in price from $50 million to $300 million.
Video Games
So far, Elevation has made three investments. In November 2005, the firm set up a holding company with $300 million of capital for its video game companies, including a stake in BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios LLC, creators of Baldur's Gate, Mercenaries and Star Wars games.
That same month, the partners bought 14 percent of online real-estate agent Homestore Inc. for $100 million. (In May, the company changed its name to Move Inc.)
In August, Elevation bought an undisclosed minority stake in Forbes Inc., owners of 90-year-old Forbes magazine and Forbes.com.
NcNamee brushes off suggestions that a flamboyant rock star like Bono makes an unlikely partner for Steve Forbes, a former Republican presidential candidate.
``In the end, we are going to be judged on whether we make a difference or not,'' he says. ``We want to let our investments speak for themselves.''
`A Maverick'
McNamee has a knack for finding good investments in unpopular industries, says Kim Polese, chief executive officer of software company SpikeSource.com in Redwood City, California.
``He's a maverick,'' says Polese, who first met McNamee through L. John Doerr, general partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, in 1996, when she founded software company Marimba Inc. Kleiner Perkins invested in Polese's firm.
McNamee, who has shaggy brown hair that grazes his shoulders, began his investment career in 1982, when he joined T. Rowe Price as a defense electronics and software analyst after earning an MBA at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Personal computers were still a nascent industry in the early 1980s, and covering the new technology as well as defense electronics while learning how to do equity research proved to be a difficult task, says Edward Mathias, the former T. Rowe Price managing director who hired McNamee.
Gates, Dell
Mathias says he took McNamee aside and told him that he needed to get his act together or he would be fired. ``There was no question he was a person of enormous potential,'' says Mathias, now a managing director at Carlyle Group.
``He had all of the prerequisite traits to make a good investor early on; how he seasoned those traits, learned how to work with others and how he developed as an investor were really key factors.''
McNamee says when he reduced his workload, dropping software and focusing on defense electronics, he did better. Starting in 1985, he returned to covering software, computers and other technology.
He spent much of his time attending technology trade shows and conferences, where he met young upstarts such as Microsoft Corp.'s Bill Gates and Michael Dell, who founded what's now called Dell Inc. in 1984. He focused on startup companies such as Dell that later became industry giants.
In early 1988, Mathias named McNamee manager of the T. Rowe Price Science & Technology Fund. Under his watch, from 1988 to 1991, the fund generated a 25 percent average annual return, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
`Well Networked'
While at T. Rowe Price, McNamee says, he came to admire some of Silicon Valley's top venture capitalists, such as Doerr. The admiration was mutual. ``Roger was smart and energetic and incredibly well networked,'' Doerr says.
In 1990, the pair agreed to go into business together, combining Doerr's venture capital expertise with McNamee's prowess at picking stocks. The result, Integral Capital Partners, was the first fund to invest both in publicly traded companies and in startups at the venture capital stage.
Integral produced a 32.7 percent average annual gross return from December 1991 to May 2004, McNamee says. In 1997, as Internet stocks started taking off, McNamee became wary. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had doubled from the start of 1994 to the end of 1997.
``It was clear that Silicon Valley and Wall Street were both out of control,'' he says. ``I thought, when this thing ends, it's going to hurt our investors and me. I decided I didn't want any of us to get hurt.''
Silver Lake Formed
McNamee and Jim Davidson, a skiing buddy and former head of technology investing at Hambrecht & Quist Group, began seeking Silicon Valley companies that were overlooked by others in the market.
They formed private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, along with Glenn Hutchins, former Blackstone Group LP senior managing director, and David Roux, executive vice president of Oracle Corp. They raised $2.3 billion for the firm's first buyout fund.
``Some really good companies were getting left behind,'' Davidson says. One was Seagate Technology Inc., the largest maker of disk drives. In March 2000, Silver Lake, Texas Pacific Group and four other investment firms bought Seagate for $2.2 billion -- including $1.1 billion in equity.
In December 2002, Silver Lake and its partners took George Town, Grand Cayman-based Seagate public again, selling 17 percent of the company for $12 a share -- giving the whole company a market value of $5.1 billion, or about five times the firm's initial investment, according to Bloomberg data.
Flying Other Brothers
While McNamee was building his investing resume, he also had a second career: as a rock musician. The self-taught guitarist is the lead singer of the Flying Other Brothers -- a band formed with his younger brother, Giles. Other band members include Pete Sears, a former member of Jefferson Starship.
Playing with the Flying Other Brothers enabled McNamee to meet other people in the music world. Once a week, he advised the surviving members of the Grateful Dead -- Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh and Bill Kreutzmann -- on their investments.
McNamee says he built a plan -- called Bandwagon -- for the Dead, which would have allowed the rock legends and other bands to sell their music, concert tickets and T-shirts directly to fans.
U2, one of the few rock bands to own rights to its own music, became interested in the project. In February 2001, Bono and U2 lead guitarist The Edge, whose real name is David Evans, met McNamee in Los Angeles to discuss the project.
Pro Bono Work
``At this meeting, I became impressed with the business savvy of Bono and Edge,'' says McNamee, who jokes that he worked with U2 on a pro Bono basis.
The Bandwagon project never got off the ground because the Dead decided to sell their music and other paraphernalia through another company.
Two years later, Bono, McNamee and Silver Lake's Mark Bodnick came together again to craft the investment plan for Elevation Partners in Dublin and New York.
The trio was joined by John Riccitiello, then president of video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc.; Fred Anderson, former chief financial officer of Apple Computer Inc.; and Bret Pearlman, a former managing director at buyout firm Blackstone. By May 2005, they had raised $1.9 billion.
Elevation has the right mix of talent, says Paul Kedrosky, a venture partner at Vancouver-based Ventures West. ``It's not all bankers doing deals based on balance sheets,'' he says.
Mercenaries 2
McNamee says Bono makes himself available one day a week to Elevation, participating in meetings by teleconference even when he's on tour. In May 2005, he joined the partners on a road show to market the fund to about 100 institutional investors.
``No one pretends that it's a full-time job for him,'' McNamee says, ``but he's very active.''
In November 2005, the partners closed the BioWare and Pandemic Studios deal -- one of its most controversial. That's because Pandemic made a video game, called Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, depicting a mercenary invasion of Venezuela.
That same month, the firm bought Move, an online real-estate agency that had been in turmoil after Stuart Wolff, the company's former CEO, was charged with financial wrongdoing. Wolff was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison for falsifying balance sheets, according to a judgment on Oct. 12, 2006, by U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson of the Federal court in Los Angeles. Wolff has filed an appeal.
Forbes.com
Shareholders took Elevation's investment as a sign that the troubles were behind Move, says Mark Argento, an analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group, a Minneapolis-based investment bank. On Jan. 22, the company's stock was up 41.3 percent to $5.95, from Nov. 7, 2005, when Elevation acquired it. ``It's a validation of the opportunities,'' Argento says.
Elevation was interested in Forbes partly because of Forbes.com, the magazine's Web site. Traffic more than doubled in 2006 and revenue rose 50 percent, according to Chief Operating Officer Tim Forbes. ``This wasn't just the typical private equity play; this was a growth play,'' he says.
McNamee says he can use his experience in picking undervalued stocks to find media and entertainment companies that offer opportunities for rising profits and stock prices. As Bono sings in the song that gave the firm its name, ``The goal is elevation.''