After the Jeffrey Epstein files upended one of the most prominent talent agencies in Hollywood, suitors are weighing a deal for at least the founder’s stake in the company ahead of a crucial deadline.
Several investors have expressed interest in the agency, now known as The Team, including United Talent Agency; the private equity firm Permira; the former chairman of the sports and entertainment company Endeavor, Patrick Whitesell; and a bidding group including Reddit’s co-founder, Alexis Ohanian, and the chief executive of the Hollywood software company Avail, Chris Giliberti, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a confidential process.
The deadline to submit formal expressions of interest is Monday. Other suitors are also looking at Wasserman, the two people said, and it was not clear on Saturday which of the potential investors would submit a formal indication of interest.
The future of the sale will rest partially in the hands of the agency’s founder, Casey Wasserman, who has a say in the deal negotiations, the people said. Mr. Wasserman, 51, announced in February that he would be exploring a sale of the agency, amid a backlash following the disclosure of his emails to Ghislaine Maxwell, a close associate of Mr. Epstein. The furor led the pop star Chappell Roan to abandon the agency.
The agency, formerly known as Wasserman, rebranded itself The Team in March to distinguish itself from its founder.
A new investor in The Team would have access to a business with ties to some of the biggest stars in sports, music and entertainment. The agency has represented thousands of musicians, performers and athletes, including Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Kendrick Lamar, Paige Bueckers, Brittney Griner and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (and Brad Pitt, who is featured on the deck pitching potential investors on the firm).
Bankers working on the deal have told prospective bidders they can submit offers for Mr. Wasserman’s stake, the entire company or anything in between, two of the people familiar with the situation said.
Mr. Wasserman and the agency’s owners since 2022, the private equity firm Providence Equity Partners, may ultimately opt not to sell Mr. Wasserman’s stake or the entire agency if the offers are not large enough. But scrapping the auction may risk reigniting artist fallout, given the fact that Mr. Wasserman has already publicly stated his intention to sell.
The agency has roughly $200 million in annual earnings before interest depreciation and amortization, two of the people said. If it was valued similarly to Goldman Sachs’s recent acquisition of a majority stake in Excel Sports Management, The Team would have a valuation in excess of $3 billion.
A spokesman for The Team declined to comment beyond Mr. Wasserman’s statement from February.
The backlash against Mr. Wasserman represented an unusual twist in the Epstein saga, in part, because it came in response to emails exchanged in 2003, well before Mr. Epstein was first arrested and accused of sexual misconduct. Mr. Wasserman’s emails with Ms. Maxwell included suggestive exchanges. But Mr. Wasserman said that he had only “limited interactions” with Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell, consisting of one humanitarian trip to Africa and a handful of emails.
Mr. Wasserman remains an influential figure in Los Angeles. He is chair of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, despite calls from Mayor Karen Bass for him to step down.
For prospective investors in the agency, a deal represents a rare opportunity to seize a prized client list in sports, music and filmed entertainment. There have been a number of large bets on talent agencies in recent years, including the purchase in 2023 of Creative Artists Agency by the French billionaire François-Henri Pinault and Goldman Sachs’s deal for Excel Sports Management last year. But the industry is also facing significant uncertainty amid major shifts in power in the media and entertainment industries and the rise of artificial intelligence.
Once plentiful in Hollywood, talent agencies have increasingly been bought up by a handful of major players, including William Morris Endeavor, Creative Artists Agency and United Talent Agency. The Team is one of the largest remaining agencies not controlled by one of those dominant players.
Benjamin Mullin reports for The Times on the major companies behind news and entertainment. Contact him securely on Signal at +1 530-961-3223 or at [email protected].
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