Ari Emanuel | |
---|---|
Born | Ariel Zev Emanuel 1961 (age 62–63) [1] |
Education | Macalester College (BA) |
Occupation | Businessman |
Years active | 2007–present |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Sarah Hardwick Addington (m. 1996;div. 2018) |
Children | 4 |
Relatives | Rahm Emanuel (brother) Ezekiel Emanuel (brother) |
Ariel Zev Emanuel (born 1961) is an American businessman and the CEO of Endeavor, an entertainment and media agency that owns the UFC and WWE. [3] He was a founding partner of the Endeavor Talent Agency and was instrumental in shaping its June 2009 merger with the William Morris Agency. [4]
Born to a Jewish family, [5] Emanuel was raised in suburban Wilmette, Illinois. Emanuel is the brother of former mayor of Chicago, Presidential Chief of Staff and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, American oncologist and bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel, and sister Shoshana Emanuel (who was adopted). His father, Jerusalem-born Benjamin M. Emanuel, was a pediatrician who was active in the Irgun, a Zionist paramilitary group, that operated in Israel during the 1930s and 1940s. [6] [7] His mother, Marsha Emanuel (née Smulevitz), was a civil rights activist, and the one-time owner of a Chicago-area rock and roll club. [8] During his third grade at school, Ari was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. [9] To supplement instruction at school, his mother spent many hours helping him to learn to read. She hired tutors and private instructors to give him private reading lessons at home. [8] [10]
Prior to founding Endeavor, Emanuel was a partner at InterTalent and senior agent at ICM Partners (ICM). Emanuel has served as a member of Live Nation Entertainment board of directors since September 2007. [11]
Emanuel has been described as a mogul and power player in Hollywood. [12] [13] Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell, the co-CEO of WME, have both been named to Fortune's Businessperson of the Year list. [14] [15] In a May 2013 article on Emanuel, Fortune called him "one of the biggest guns in the consolidating entertainment business". [16]
Emanuel's relationships with his clients, coupled with his stature in the industry, has led to various homages and parodies over the years, including Bob Odenkirk's character Stevie Grant on The Larry Sanders Show , and Ari Gold, played by Jeremy Piven on the HBO television show Entourage . [17] In 2011, Emanuel co-founded TheAudience with Sean Parker and Oliver Luckett. [18]
An April 2002 lawsuit by agent Sandra Epstein against Endeavor Agency brought forth accusations by Epstein and other Endeavor employees against Emanuel. In the court filings, Emanuel is alleged to have allowed a friend to operate a pornographic website out of Endeavor's offices. According to Epstein, Emanuel made racist and anti-gay remarks and prevented her from sending a script about Navy SEALs to actor Wesley Snipes, saying: "That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Everyone knows that blacks don't swim." [19] Emanuel disputed these accusations at the time. Emanuel settled Epstein's claims for $2.25 million. [19]
Endeavor went public in 2021 with Emanuel owning a stake worth around $480 million according to Bloomberg. [20] He and Patrick Whitesell are also co-CEO of IMG, a global sports, events and talent management company headquartered in New York City. [21]
Emanuel has hosted fundraisers for the Democratic Party. [22] He donated $2,700 to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 United States presidential election. His long-standing relationship with his former client Donald Trump is well documented. [23] During the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, Emanuel offered to produce a movie for Trump which was considered for the 2016 Republican National Convention but ultimately was not followed through on. [24]
After the disappearance of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi on October 2, 2018, and reports that the Saudi hit squad had assassinated him inside their consulate in Turkey, Emanuel called White House senior adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner. [25] Emanuel tried to extricate Endeavor from a $400 million deal with the Saudi Arabian government. [26]
In October 2022, Emanuel urged businesses to stop working with rapper Kanye West over his antisemitic comments. [27] [28]
Emanuel has in the past been active on the board of trustees of P.S. Arts, a Los Angeles, California-based nonprofit organization that works to bring art education programs to Southern California schools. He has also helped the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, establish MOCAtv, a dedicated YouTube art channel. In 2012, he joined the museum's board of trustees. [29]
In 1996, Emanuel married girlfriend Sarah Hardwick Addington; they have three sons. [8] [30] The couple divorced in 2018. [2] In May 2022, he married fashion designer Sarah Staudinger, founder of the Los Angeles label STAUD. [31]
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The Endeavor Talent Agency was a Beverly Hills-based talent agency founded by Ari Emanuel, Rick Rosen, Tom Strickler, and David Greenblatt. It was launched in March 1995 and went on to represent a wide variety of acclaimed film and television stars. In April 2009, Emanuel and Endeavor executive Patrick Whitesell orchestrated a merger with the William Morris Agency, resulting in William Morris Endeavor. William Morris Endeavor was renamed Endeavor in October 2017.
Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. is an American holding company for talent and media agencies with its primary offices in Beverly Hills, California, United States. The company was founded in April 2009 after the merger of the William Morris Agency and Endeavor Talent Agency. Endeavor represents artists in film, television, music, theater, digital media, and publishing. It also represents the NFL and NHL. Endeavor owns Professional Bull Riders (PBR) and is majority owner of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) through TKO Group. In collegiate athletics Endeavor-Learfield IMG represents The American, A10, Big 12, Conference USA, Horizon League, MAC, MEAC, OVC, SEC and WCC.
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They were married in 1996, had three sons, and divorced in 2018.