Private Equity Firm To Take Endeavor Private for $13 Billion

Endeavor Group Holdings said it agreed to be acquired by private-equity firm Silver Lake for $27.50 a share, a deal that values Endeavor at $13 billion.

The deal is being described as a partnership between investors including Silver Lake and the Endeavor management team, including CEO Ari Emanuel, executive chairman Patrick Whitesell and president and chief operating officer Mark Shapiro.

Silver Lake has been an investor in Endeavor since 2012.

Endeavor’s stock price rose 2% to $25.92 in afternoon trading Tuesday.

“Our unwavering belief in Ari and Patrick, together with Mark and other talented leaders at Endeavor, has never been stronger,“ said Egon Durban, co-CEO and managing partner of Silver Lake and chair of Endeavor. “This is a very special partnership. Together, we have built and grown Endeavor from $350 million in annual revenue when we first invested in 2012 to nearly $6 billion in consolidated revenue today.

“Now, Endeavor can take advantage of its unique core platform to meet the dynamic forces driving growth in content, sports and live events with bold vision,“ Durban said. “Consistent with our mission and underscored by this commitment being among the largest in Silver Lake’s history, we are all in on working with the Endeavor team and our trusted anchor investors to create value by accelerating growth at scale.”

Endeavor announced in October that it began a formal review of strategic alternatives. At the time, Silver Lake said it was working on a proposal to take Endeavor private.

Silver Lake said that if the value of TKO Group, controlled by Endeavor, were included, the value of the company would be $25 billion. TKO, which owns WWE and UFC, is not part of the transaction and is expected to remain a separate publicly traded company that benefits from its connections to Endeavor, Silver Lake said.

"Since 2012, Endeavor’s strategic partnership with Silver Lake and Egon Durban have been central to our evolution into the global sports and entertainment leader we are today,” Emanuel said. “We believe this transaction will maximize value for all of Endeavor’s public stockholders and are excited to continue to unlock and invest in the growth opportunities ahead as a private company.”