Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell Are Leaving Endeavor

As Endeavor goes back to private under PE firm Silver Lake, CEO Ari Emanuel and Executive Chairman Patrick Whitesell are reportedly stepping away from the company they built.

The Big Picture: Emanuel and Whitesell are not just two of the most influential agents in Hollywood, leading what is arguably the industry’s biggest agency, but they’ve also transformed into media moguls in recent years. Their move away from Endeavor (and especially WME) is one of the biggest Hollywood regime changes in over a decade.

Behind the Scenes: On the heels of Jeremy Zimmer stepping down as CEO of UTA, Emanuel and Whitesell are also passing the crown, according to The Wrap.

• Whitesell is leaving with the football division of WME Sports, which he purchased through a new, still-under-wraps $250 million media investment platform.
• He’ll still be a major shareholder in Endeavor and advise some top clients, including Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Denzel Washington.
• Emanuel is expected to change his leadership role at the company and remain on the board… so he’ll still have some significant influence.
• But that likely means Emanuel will now be much more focused on his role as CEO of TKO, the combat-sports company formed through the merger of UFC and WWE.

Last Call: Endeavor’s return to being a private company is giving the entertainment landscape some serious whiplash. Emanuel fueled the rapid growth of Endeavor through several mergers and acquisitions that hoped to make the balance sheet more stable and attractive to investors (representation alone has always been hard for the markets to understand). But the bet doesn’t seem to have totally paid off, so Endeavor is selling off many of those assets.

Now, Endeavor’s privatization will allegedly be a return to making WME the “main focus of the company,” spearheaded by Endeavor president and COO Mark Shapiro and WME co-chairmen Christian Muirhead and Richard Weitz. It looks as if going back to the basics is the best way forward… and will likely tamper down other agencies’ own M&A ambitions.