After a postponement in early August, entertainment hodgepodge Endeavor Group (the parent of talent agency William Morris Endeavor) filed revised paperwork with the SEC as they more forward with an IPO. The company plans to offer approximately 19.35 million shares of stock for sale, at an estimated price of $30 to $32 per share. (As…
Agency News
Endeavor Files for IPO
Endeavor Group, the sprawling entertainment and representation conglomerate that is the parent of William Morris Endeavor, filed documents with the SEC for a public offering of shares. They intend to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EDR, and the proposition is perhaps more reminiscent of a tech IPO than a regular…
Winter Is Here: What the Writers Guild Fight Means for Authors and Agents
More than a week ago the Writers Guild of America (WGA) ordered its members to fire their agents, and there’s no end in sight to writers’ objections to film and TV packaging fees and big agencies’ production affiliates. On April 16, the WGA escalated the situation by filing a civil lawsuit against the Association of…
Endeavor Looks to IPO, As Entertainment Writers’ Union Votes for New Code that Rejects Big Agencies’ Practices
People in businesses like ours still think of William Morris Endeavor as a talent agency, but ever since their acquisition of IMG for approximately $2.4 billion in 2014, the parent company has become a hedge-fund controlled entertainment group that also owns a talent agency. Subsequent deals included the purchase of a controlling interest in Ultimate…
People, Etc.
Hachette Book Group has hired Wibke Grütjen as svp and chief marketing officer, starting March 25 and reporting to ceo Michael Pietsch. Grütjen will lead the marketing strategy team, and joins the management board. She has been vp of digital marketing at Macmillan since 2010. Alyson Forbes, who had been leading marketing strategy on an…
Final IRS Guidance On Business Tax Break Favors Publishing Professionals, Except for “Performing Arts” Licenses
On Friday the Treasury Department issued “final regulations and other guidance” to help clarify the application of last year’s tax cut for many owners of sole proprietorships, partnerships, trusts, and S corporations. One closely-watched provision for high-earning authors and other creators, as well as independent publishing professionals such as agents, scouts, publicists and others, is…