CAA Closes $750 Million Acquisition Of ICM; 105 To Be Laid Off From ICM In Total, 425 Making Move To CAA – Update

Nellie Andreeva and Mike Fleming Jr
·6 min read

Almost nine months to the day after the surprise Deadline scoop that CAA would acquire ICM Partners, the deal finally got government approval and closed. This creates a mega agency in the biggest linkup in the space since the WMA-Endeavor merger in 2009. Sources close to the situation said the Department of Justice finally approved the deal late Monday night or this morning, and it closed. It is valued around $750 million, and a combined enterprise value around $5 billion. The merged company’s leadership is expected to address staff at a town hall Thursday, with the newly combined departments set to begin their integration process with get-togethers on July 11, we hear.

First, though, comes the pain.

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Around 105 positions will be eliminated, all from ICM, and coming from all areas. There will be 425 ICM agents and staffers from the agency joining CAA, meaning around 80% will be retained by CAA. These conversations will happen quickly. A couple of dozen agents and other staffers have left in the past few months after the regulatory approval process dragged on, delaying the deal by about six months from the time frame CAA and ICM originally had projected. The bloodletting will be expedited and everyone will know where they stand shortly, if they don’t know already.

We’ve heard that much of the value of the deal to star incoming agents will come in stock, though ICM investor Crestview will get the bulk of the $200 million or so of cash that CAA and TPG have put in to close this deal. That stock will figure to be valuable if CAA and its majority owner TPG finally take the company public.

As Deadline reported earlier this month, the ICM agents whom the combined company wants to keep recently received formal invitations and non-negotiable offers of cash and stock, which have not been received well.

Recent departures include Daniel Cohan, Michael Kagan, Chris Von Goetz, Katie Cates, Andrew Rogers, Brittany Perlmuter, Joanne Wiles, Kyle Jaeger, James Robins Early, Jessica Lacy, Carol Goll, Chris Smith and Greg Jules. They join a number of agents who left over the past eight months including Jeff Barry, Dan Baime, John Burnham, Josh Rahm, Matt Sorger, April King, Ariel Meislin, Adam Ginivisian, Nathalie Didier, Christina Bazdekis, Denise Draper, JR Ringer, Kevin Hussey, Zach Carlisle, Brett Passis, Seth Lawrence and Will Kircher. Several ICM departments have been greatly impacted, sources said, including branding, post-production and alternative. Longtime ICM spokesman Brad Turell will be among those leaving also.

Those who left before they were pushed did so to retain their clients, which would have been jeopardized if they’d waited on a severance check. The nine months gave time to many who were not going to make the cut to plot their next move, and ICM let people out of their contracts, we’re told.

Word is that more people are being let go today, mostly back office employees.

ICM CEO Chris Silbermann is expected to join CAA co-chairmen Kevin Huvane, Bryan Lourd and Richard Lovett and TPG reps on the CAA ownership board. It is unclear who from ICM would be included on the operational board, but rising stars such as talent head Lorrie Bartlett have been rumored as possibilities.

“Today marks a new chapter in the history of our company, positioning us better than ever to deliver extraordinary opportunities for many of the world’s preeminent artists, athletes, thought leaders, brands and organizations in entertainment, sports and culture,” said Huvane, Lourd, and Lovett. “We are thrilled to welcome our new ICM colleagues to CAA, and look forward to combining their expertise, relationships and resources with those of our agents and executives around the world. Our diverse range of clients who entertain and inspire large global audiences have never been in more demand, nor have their opportunities been greater. With today’s addition of our new colleagues, the scope of possibilities for helping clients achieve their goals is limitless.”

The top assets ICM is bringing to the table are its books and sports divisions as well as a few top showrunners such as Shonda Rhimes, Vince Gilligan and Bill Lawrence.

This brings to a close decades of collisions between the two agencies that go back to when Michael Ovitz and Ron Meyer headed CAA and Jeff Berg and Jim Wiatt headed ICM. They battled over big clients, and Berg contested Ovitz when the latter began brokering huge sales of studios, including when Matsushita acquired MCA/Universal, the rescue of MGM/UA, and when Sony Corp bought Columbia Pictures. They raided each other for clients and agents, but CAA pulled away eventually and its main rival became WME, the amalgamation of WMA and Endeavor. ICM had agenting legends like Sam Cohn in New York, and Ed Limato, who moved to WME with clients that included Denzel Washington, and Berg over the years had clients that included James Cameron and James L. Brooks. When Berg and Rizvi Traverse years later parted with ICM, they took many of the most lucrative packages that cushioned the agency.

M&As have always played an important role in ICM, formed in 1975 through the merger of Creative Management Associates and International Famous Agency. ICM’s 2006 acquisition of boutique literary agency Broder Webb Chervin Silbermann brought on the agency’s current leadership, Silbermann and managing director Ted Chervin, as well as the bulk of ICM Partners’ TV lit department whose client list includes top showrunners Rhimes, Ted Lasso’s Lawrence, Breaking Bad’s Gilligan, as well as The Good Doctor’s David Shore and The Handmaid’s Tale’s Bruce Miller.

Following the December 2019 sale of a one-third equity stake to Crestview Partners for $150 million to fund international growth, ICM Partners got on an acquisition spree that upped its stature in sports representation to complement its strength in TV lit and publishing. Starting with the acquisition of music-focused London-based Primary Talent International in March 2020 and the pickup of a significant minority stake in the Stockholm, Sweden-based boutique lit agency Albatros in August 2020, ICM Partners made its biggest acquisition last October with London-based powerhouse soccer and sports agency Stellar Group, which represents more than 800 athletes, to establish ICM Stellar Sports. This past July, the new sports division made its first acquisition with the purchase of Select Sports Group, an indie agency that reps NFL coaches, players and executives.

“Combining with the best-in-class agency to build an even greater representation company for our clients and our colleagues is the core strategic reason for this move. We couldn’t be more enthusiastic about our future together, and are energized by the sophisticated, forward-thinking representation we offer clients. This is the ideal next step for our companies,” said Silbermann and Chervin.

The combined agencies leaves CAA with more than 3,200 total employees operating in 25 countries worldwide. CAA in January announced that it has signed a long-term lease agreement to relocate its headquarters to Century City Center at 1950 Avenue of the Stars in 2026. It will become an anchor tenant in a new, 37-story commercial tower, which is within blocks of CAA and ICM’s headquarters and will house the combined agency.

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