WME/IMG is currently operating 12 to 18 months ahead of financial projections following its takeover and is now focused on broadening its content base, according to the agency’s co-chief executive, Ari Emanuel.
Speaking at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, Colorado, Emanuel outlined WME/IMG’s progress following its December 2013 takeover. “We’re in great shape right now,” Emanuel said, according to the Variety newspaper. “We’re ahead of the plan by at least 12 to 18 months. We will hit every number, we will exceed every number that was planned.”
WME/IMG was formed after entertainment talent agency William Morris Endeavor and private equity firm Silver Lake Partners reached a $2.4bn (€2.2bn) deal to acquire IMG. Emanuel said the agency currently has a big focus on balancing IMG’s representation business with ownership and distribution of content.
“When we started with the business (IMG) was 70 per cent representation and 30 per cent in ownership of assets,” Emanuel said. “We’re going to shift that about 5 per cent to 10 per cent. Buying businesses that we can own and operate as opposed to represent is crucial to how we’re going to create the mix of things we do.”
Commenting on the prospect of an initial public offering, he added: “That’s probably an option. I’m not thinking about it. All I’m doing is operating the business.”