Silver Lake Buys Stake in WME Agency

By Gina Chon which will enable us to expand [William and Anupreeta Das Morris’s] growth strategy into digital media and create compelling new opportunities for Private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners our clients.” Mr. Whitesell and Mr. Emanuel is buying a minority stake in leading talent said in a statement. agency William Morris Endeavor Entertain- The shifting landscape of the entertainment in a deal that aims to help the agency ment industry—with its increasing diver- build its clients’ brands on digital platforms, sity of platforms, distribution mechanisms the companies said. and business models—has undermined WME, as the agency is known, represents the importance of movie studios and TV well-known actors, filmmakers, authors and networks as content creators, lending entertainers such as Matt Damon, Barbra greater clout to talent agencies. Streisand and Justin Timberlake. The As more actors, entertainers and other agency also provides digital advertising and talent seek to develop their own content and marketing support to consumer brands, such control the manner of its distribution, their as Hasbro. agents have their hands in larger portions Silver Lake specializes in technology- of the production pipeline, putting agen- related investments, including Skype, which cies such as WME front and center in the it sold last year for $8.5 billion to Microsoft process. Corp., and Groupon Inc. The William Morris Agency and the WME had been using its own funds to expand in digital entertainment and media Endeavor Agency merged in 2009 to form without outside help, people familiar with William Morris Endeavor. Mr. Emanuel, who the matter said. The agency decided future came from Endeavor, is a well-known enter- opportunities are vast, and that it would tainment agent on whom the HBO show be best to bring in a partner to help take Entourage character Ari Gold is modeled. advantage of them, according to the people He is also the brother of former White House familiar with the matter. chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel. Along with the 31% stake the private- Venture capital investor Marc Andreessen equity firm is taking in WME, Silver Lake introduced Silver Lake representatives to managing partner Egon Durban will join the William Morris officials about three years agency’s executive committee, the compa- ago and the two sides talked about how they nies said. He will also help create a new could work together, people familiar with the technology advisory council that will identify matter said. growth opportunities to benefit the agency’s “We believe that William Morris is a stra- clients. tegic platform for investments and part- WME’s day-to-day operations will continue nerships, positioned at the epicenter of the to be run by its current leadership team and converging technology and content indus- management board, including co-CEOs Ariel tries,” Mr. Durban of Silver Lake said in a Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell, according to statement. the companies. Financial terms of the deal WME was advised by the Raine Group weren’t disclosed. and law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton “While we have already taken signifi- and Garrison LLP. Silver Lake was advised cant strategic steps to transition our busi- by law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett ness to the new digital media landscape, LLP. we are excited about the financial strength and technology expertise Silver Lake brings, Erica Orden contributed to this article.

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