Todd Boehly’s Eldridge Industries Takes Over Dick Clark Productions From MRC in Media Asset Split
Entertainment and sports mogul Todd Boehly is making changes to his Hollywood portfolio. The former Guggenheim Partners executive, who founded his own firm, Eldridge Industries, in 2015, has arranged to split production company MRC from Dick Clark Productions, the producer of the Golden Globes.
Under the deal terms, Boehly’s Eldridge will move from a majority stakeholder in House of Cards and Ozark producer MRC, run by executives Asif Satchu and Modi Wiczyk, to a minority stakeholder. MRC will keep stakes in Civic Center Media and T-Street. And assets like DCP and Luminate, a music data firm that powers Billboard charts, will go to Eldridge and be separated from MRC holdings. MRC’s stake in The Hollywood Reporter will also be transferred to Eldridge Industries under the deal.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
Boehly — whose Eldridge Industries also owns stakes in entertainment companies like A24 and Fullwell Productions and Film Expo Group, which puts on industry events like ShowEast and CineEurope — is also a part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise and recently took over English Premier League club Chelsea.
Boehly’s involvement in the Hollywood media landscape dates back more than a decade. In 2009, Nielsen sold THR, Billboard, Adweek and other publications to investment firm Guggenheim Partners and private equity firm Pluribus Capital to form a company called e5 Global Media LLC. In 2010, the ownership group changed the e5 name to Prometheus Global Media and the daily trade paper was relaunched as a weekly glossy magazine aimed at industry insiders. In 2013, Guggenheim disclosed that it had acquired Pluribus Capital’s stake in THR and had formed Guggenheim Digital Media to house its publishing assets. Two years later, Guggenheim Partners spun off THR to the executive who oversaw media investments, Boehly, as he left the financial services firm and formed his Eldridge Industries banner.
Eldridge Industries grouped THR and Billboard in with production company MRC to form a firm called Valence Media in 2018, to be led by MRC execs Satchu and Wiczyk and chaired by Boehly. That brought THR under the same corporate umbrella as the film finance and production group that backed features like Ted and Knives Out and produced the Golden Globes.
In July 2020, the Valence Media moniker was dissolved and the asset that housed THR was renamed to just MRC, grouped into a media division, data unit and a live and alternative division that included Dick Clark Productions. In October 2020, MRC entered into a joint venture with Penske Media titled PMRC. Owner Jay Penske’s firm took over operational control of THR and brought the magazine under the same corporate roof as its nearly century-old rival, Variety, as well as publications like Rolling Stone, Deadline, IndieWire and WWD. (The PMRC moniker appears to be retiring given the separation of assets from MRC. Satchu and Wiczyk stated on Friday: “We thank Eldridge for their continued partnership and wish all of our colleagues the very best for the future.”)
Boehly also is the interim chief executive officer of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organization that puts on the Globes. His Eldridge Industries also has a financial stake in Cain International, which has an interest in the Beverly Hilton Hotel, the venue that hosts the Globes. On July 28, the HFPA said its membership had voted in favor of a proposal by Eldridge to take the assets that manage the Golden Globes to form a for-profit venture. The HFPA noted of the decision: “Boehly was not part of the review, recommendation, or approval process.”
