A major power shift hit Hollywood late Friday when Casey Wasserman told his 4,000 employees in a bombshell memo he’d be selling off his eponymous management firm after a week of growing criticism over his inclusion in the Epstein files. Now there could be an M&A frenzy in the works as prospective buyers plot ways to carve up his representation empire.
Big questions are ahead: Will the mogul plan on selling the company whole? Or would he make deals for individual divisions piecemeal?
Wasserman, founded in 2002, is a sprawling roll-up of boutique marketing arms, a powerhouse sports unit, a music division, a speakers branch and a creators department. Until only a few years ago, when it made a change to unify its branding under the single name of its founder, the Westwood-based company operated as a constellation of brands under its “Team Wass” billing. “But it’s never been one company,” one source says. “It’s never been a team or cohesive.”
One top music executive tells The Hollywood Reporter it’s plausible that a major talent agency could make a play for the whole business depending on a look at the company’s books. But another live music executive says that a buyer would find Wasserman’s U.K. music division a desirable asset for them if the mogul decided to sell off departments individually. Other sources believe that piecemeal approach could be a more realistic option given the company’s disparate collection of assets.
A source close to the agency says Bruin Capital’s George Pyne has expressed interest in an acquisition, as has sports investment firm Arctos, which itself was acquired by private equity giant KKR this month. François-Henri Pinault, who bought a majority stake in CAA in 2023 in a blockbuster deal valued at $7 billion, was said to be discussing the matter with CAA management over the weekend, the source says. A rep for CAA declined comment.
The past week marked the culmination of a PR crisis for Wasserman, who had lost the confidence of many of his agents and clients in the wake of the scandal. Several sources told THR that even after his apology for 2003 suggestive emails to Ghislaine Maxwell, agents had encouraged some of their clients to post publicly abut the scandal to put more pressure on Wasserman.
Wasserman himself is said to have complained to friends that the campaign against him has not been entirely organic. A source tells THR that the mogul believes much of the outrage in the past two weeks has been fomented and stirred by rival agencies looking to undermine him and poach his clients.
In particular, Wasserman is said to have special ire for fellow Hollywood powerbroker Ari Emanuel, a decades-long rival from the time he ran day-to-day at WME. “The two of them can’t be in a room with each other,” says a mutual friend. (WME Group has been run by Christian Muirhead and Richard Weitz since 2022, while Emanuel holds the executive chairman title.)
One such tense moment occurred in August 2024, when star Wasserman client Billie Eilish, who was reportedly upset after a scathing report in The Daily Mail detailing allegations of Wasserman’s “serial cheating” with subordinates at his firm, left for WME. Wasserman criticized the Mail, saying at the time that “If The Daily Mail qualifies as reporting, then I guess we’re all in trouble.” (For her part, Eilish actually never commented on the saga. It’s been a matter of internal debate if the tawdry allegations really spurred her move — or whether Eilish was just eager for a pretext to change representation.) Wasserman is said to have privately blamed Emanuel for inducing her ill-timed jump.
Even amidst the drama, Ari and Casey remain in business together. Emanuel is the CEO of WWE and UFC owner TKO Group Holdings, which also owns On Location Experiences, the official hospitality provider of the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games chaired by Wasserman. “Casey and his team have been extraordinary partners on the premium hospitality planning for LA28 and his vision for the games is coming to life by the day,” said TKO president Mark Shapiro in a statement to THR. “We’re committed to our relationship and staying focused on our important work together.”
An insider close to Wasserman pushes back on the claim that he’s blaming Emanuel, saying that Casey is “aware of the noise but would be surprised and disappointed if it were true.” This source notes that Emanuel and Shapiro were invited to, and attended, Wasserman’s Super Bowl lunch.
A WME rep declined comment on Emanuel and Wasserman’s relationship.
Wasserman’s latest fallout came soon after the 23-year-old flirtatious emails he’d sent to Maxwell surfaced in the latest batch of Epstein Files. The emails revealed no criminal behavior on Wasserman’s part but did reveal suggestive communications between him and Maxwell following a humanitarian trip Wasserman and his wife took with Epstein to Africa over 20 years ago. Wasserman addressed his communications with Epstein and Maxwell in his memo to staff Friday, calling his interactions with the convicted sex traffickers limited, and stating he hadn’t known about their crimes.
“It was years before their criminal conduct came to light, and, in its entirety, consisted of one humanitarian trip to Africa and a handful of emails that I deeply regret sending,” Wasserman said. “And I’m heartbroken that my brief contact with them 23 years ago has caused you, this company, and its clients so much hardship over the past days and weeks.”
With Wasserman up for sale, his attention is now turning full-time toward the 2028 Olympics. The LA 28 Olympics Board said Wednesday that it would continue to back Wasserman. The question now becomes how much, if at all, the heat will come off him after initiating his agency divestment. Only time will tell.
Read the full article here
