For brash deal-maker Ari Emanuel, IPO collapse is a rare stumble, and his biggest challenge yet
LOS ANGELES - For months, Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel had been carefully choreographing his Wall Street entrance.
The highly anticipated initial public offering for Endeavor Group Holdings, planned for last Friday, would be the first of its kind in Hollywood and the culmination of the uber-agent's ambitious plan to build the media company of the future. The offering was expected to raise as much as $600 million and value the firm at $8 billion.
But those plans collapsed Thursday when Endeavor pulled the plug on the IPO, citing unstable market conditions.
The move marked a rare and humbling stumble for Emanuel, 58, a consummate deal maker and risk taker who had transformed Endeavor, the talent agency he'd started in 1995 with no clients and no money, into a Hollywood powerhouse through a dizzying series of acquisitions - first of the famed William Morris Agency and then of other key players in fashion, media, marketing, sports and technology.
"This is a blow for Ari. It's definitely damaged his reputation," said Los Angeles investment banker Lloyd Greif. "It will be interesting to see what happens next."
Emanuel's dream is to make Endeavor - already a powerful agency with a client roster that includes President Trump and Michael Moore, Martin Scorsese and Oprah Winfrey - into a global entertainment juggernaut. The IPO was intended to help fuel its ascent. The cash would have helped chip away at its $4.6-billion debt while funding future acquisitions. Now the firm is likely to face a host of financial pressures, and Emanuel - a man who has frequently said that he doesn't fear failure, but who, until last week, had never experienced a prominent one - will have to navigate the challenges to come.
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On Thursday, most of Endeavor's partners were in New York in anticipation of what was to be
