Ari Emanuel Memoir Details $44 Million William Morris Takeover After 2009 Merger Fight
Updated
Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Sep 15
Ari Emanuel Memoir Details $44 Million William Morris Takeover After 2009 Merger Fight
3 articles · Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Sep 15
Summary
Ari Emanuel says in his memoir that he used Endeavor’s 2009 merger with William Morris to seize control of the combined agency for about $44 million.
225 agents across both firms made the deal hard to execute, he wrote, because the new company could not keep all 75 Endeavor agents and 150 William Morris agents.
Emanuel says he first pursued William Morris in 2003, revived talks in 2007 and pushed the merger because clients worried Endeavor was too small to survive Hollywood’s technological upheaval and consolidation.
Boardroom maneuvering became central: Emanuel wrote that he persuaded COO Irv Weintraub to give up his seat, then moved to oust CEO Jim Wiatt and later settle out Weintraub as well.
The account, published in a Wall Street Journal excerpt ahead of the book’s Sept. 22 release, frames the merger as the move that cemented Emanuel’s rise as a Hollywood power broker.