Tech Firm Softbank Group Makes $250 million investment into agency powerhouse WME IMG
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$5.5m investment in WME-IMG
Mutual fund-management company Fidelity is the former William Morris Endeavor's latest corporate backer as it eyes further expansion
By IQ on 21 Apr 2016
WME-IMG co-CEO Ari Emanuel (right) with his brother, mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel
image © Fortune Brainstorm Tech
Less than a month after securing a US$250 million investment from Japanese telecoms giant SoftBank, booking and sports agency WME-IMG has another new corporate backer in the form of wealth-management firm Fidelity Management and Research.
Fidelity, which primarily manages a large family of mutual funds, has invested $55m into the agency, which SoftBank valued at $5.5 billion.
WME-IMG says it will use both Fidelity and SoftBank’s investments “to advance [its] global growth strategy through new investments, acquisitions and joint ventures”. The latest of those is last week’s first foray into the fine art world with an investment in London art fair and publisher Frieze.
Music and media agency WME (William Morris Endeavor) and corporate parent Silver Lake Partners acquired sports agency IMG (International Management Group) at the tail end of 2013 for $2.3 billion.
