With the Silver Lake take-private complete, Endeavor Group Holdings continues to sell off its remaining “non-core” assets, with Ari Emanuel still the biggest buyer.
The company on Thursday said that it had agreed to sell Frieze to a new events and experiences company founded by Emanuel, and backed by a consortium of investors. Frieze operates international arts fairs, as well as editorial and digital arts platforms.
Frieze CEO Simon Fox and his team will continue to operate the business under its new ownership.
“Frieze has always been a source of inspiration for me—both professionally and personally,” said Emanuel in a statement. “Having worked with the team for nearly a decade, I’ve seen firsthand the strength of their community and the ambition driving their mission to expand the reach and understanding of contemporary art. Frieze is well positioned for further growth and represents a strategic cornerstone in our new global events platform.”
Silver Lake’s take-private was focused on WME (the new private company is called WME Group), so Endeavor’s other assets have been sold or put up for sale, and some WME assets are also being sold to comply with conflict of interest rules.
Last year Endeavor sold PBR, IMG and On Location to TKO, which it holds a controlling stake in; And it sold OpenBet and IMG Arena in another deal backed by Emanuel (SportRadar subsequently cut a deal to buy IMG Arena). And Earlier this week THR reported that Emanuel was among the buyers of WME’s basketball representation business, as WME works with the players unions on resolving conflict of interest concerns involving Silver lake and Michael Dell. WME is currently in talks to figure out the future of its baseball representation business, and sold its football business to Patrick Whitesell.
With the sale of Frieze, the number of non-WME businesses is dwindling. The biggest assets left appear to be some live events, including the Madrid Open and Miami Open tennis tournaments, as well as fashion week assets.
Emanuel is seen as a likely bidder for those assets.
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