Ari Emanuel, Hollywood super agent and CEO of Endeavor Group Holdings, is edging closer to a major acquisition that could expand his influence from sports and entertainment into the art world.
A consortium he leads, partnered with New York private equity firms Apollo Global Management and RedBird Capital Partners, has reportedly outbid the European firm CVC Capital Partners to buy a group of assets currently owned by Endeavor, valued at over $1 billion, Bloomberg reported last week.
The centerpiece of the deal involves the Madrid and Miami Open tennis tournaments, two of the most prestigious sports events in the world, but the portfolio up for auction may also include Frieze, the global contemporary art fair and publisher.
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Endeavor purchased a stake in Frieze in 2016, and later bought out the rest of the 20-year-old brand, which had previously been run by its former owners and founders Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover. Since the purchase, Frieze has been part of the company’s Events division, which the company has been looking to sell off since private equity firm Silver Lake announced it was taking Endeavor private last fall.
While the deal is not yet finalized and terms could still shift, Bloomberg reports that Friez is on the table.
The art brand, which was started in the early 1990s, is one of the smallest revenue drivers at Endeavor. According to UK financial audits filed between 2021 and 2024, the holding company was focused on expanding Frieze’s Events, which spans the fair’s London and Seoul editions. Those three fairs saw post-tax profits drop by over 66 percent in that period, going from £5 million in 2021 to to £1.7 million in 2023. (The figures exclude New York and Los Angeles editions.)
Emanuel’s group has been linked to backing major sports tournaments for many years, but don’t have ties to other art-adjacent brands. If the deal closes in the consortium’s favor, it would deepen RedBird’s foothold in sports and media, adding to its investments in AC Milan, Alpine F1, and Fenway Sports Group.
Silver Lake’s recent move to take the company private has prompted the sale of several divisions, including a $3.25 billion internal deal transferring ownership of IMG and other sports properties to TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of UFC and WWE.
Silver Lake completed its purchase of Endeavor late last month, the company announced. As part of the shift, the company’s representation businesses were rebranded WME Group, with Emanuel as its executive chairman.