Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor seeks to end Saudi deal
Journalist’s disappearance roils Hollywood months after warm welcome for crown prince
Endeavor, the media and entertainment group founded by Ari Emanuel, is trying to terminate a $400m investment by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund following the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to people familiar with the plan.
The deal was struck this year and gave the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund an equity stake of less than 10 per cent in Endeavor, which owns Ultimate Fighting Championship, Miss Universe and IMG, the sports marketing group. It also owns one of Hollywood’s largest talent agencies, which represents stars such as Matt Damon and Serena Williams. Endeavor declined to comment.
The investment in the company formed part of a grand plan by Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, to open up Saudi Arabia’s entertainment sector and create a domestic film and entertainment industry. It is unclear what impact the unwinding of the Endeavor investment will have on this project.
Moves to terminate the deal come months after Hollywood rolled out the red carpet for Prince Mohammed. Mr Emanuel, the brother of Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, was among the entertainment executives at a dinner held for the crown prince when he came to Los Angeles in April: Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Walt Disney’s Bob Iger and Snapchat’s Evan Spiegel also attended.
The Endeavor investment is one of several by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, which has more than $250bn in assets. It has aggressively invested in western technology companies, buying stakes in companies such as Tesla and Uber. It has also invested $45bn in a new SoftBank technology fund.
It is unclear if Endeavor will return the money paid for the stake or if it has lined up an alternative buyer of the shares. The group has expanded in recent years, partnering with Silver Lake, the technology-focused private equity group, on a string of deals. The two companies are currently among the final bidders for Endemol Shine, the European television production group.
Endeavor’s efforts to withdraw from the Saudi deal come as more western business leaders have pulled out of the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, which was organised by the PIF.
Executives who have withdrawn from the forum, due to take place at the end of the month, include Sir Richard Branson; Jim Yong Kim, World Bank president; Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber chief; Steve Schwarzman of Blackstone; Larry Fink, chief executive of BlackRock; and Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase chief executive.
Sir Richard has also broken off discussions with the PIF fund about a planned $1bn investment in Virgin’s space companies.