Hollywood Reporter: Endeavor Puts OpenBet and IMG Arena Up For Sale as Silver Lake Takeover Draws Closer

Story from Hollywood Reporter:

As Endeavor‘s take-private deal with Silver lake draws closer, big changes are already coming to the Ari Emanuel-led firm.

In its Q2 earnings report Thursday morning, Endeavor said that it has put the businesses in its “sports data & technology segment up for sale: OpenBet and IMG Arena. Endeavor says it has begin to “actively market” the businesses, and will characterize them as discontinued operations in its earnings.

Endeavor had acquired the sports betting platform and servicer provider OpenBet in 2022 for about $800 million. IMG Arena, meanwhile, is the sports data business.

Endeavor announced its take-private deal with Silver Lake back in April, a deal which valued the WME owner at $13 billion. As part of that deal, Endeavor said that would seek to sell off many assets, though its core representation business and it stake in TKO Group Holdings would be excluded from that.

Overall in Q2, Endeavor had revenue of $1.75 billion and a net loss of $253.8 million, as well as adjusted EBITDA of $380.7 million.

“TKO and PBR benefited from strong consumer demand and engagement during the quarter, and we continued to drive growth in our representation segment,” said Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel in a statement. “We remain focused on delivering for our clients and partners and maintaining momentum throughout the business as we work toward the close of our take-private transaction with Silver Lake.”

In Q2, Endeavor’s representation business — led by WME — revenue was $411.4 million, up 7.9% compared to a year ago. The company said that its talent and music divisions, as well as marketing firm 160over90, were responsible for the growth, offset by some decreases in the fashion business.

The growth suggests that Hollywood’s traditional entertainment flywheel is back in action after last year’s WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

The events and experiences division had revenue of $472.2 million, down 20% from last year, but that was largely due to the sale of IMG Academy, making for an inapt comparison.

And the owned sports business had revenue of $894.1 million in the quarter, up 163% from last year. It, too, is an inapt comparison, however, as that growth was largely due to the addition of the WWE to TKO Group Holdings. The company also cited growth at PBR.

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