Famed Super-Agent Ari Emanuel Puts Miss Universe Pageant Up for Sale
By: Serach Nissim
Famed super-agent Ari Emanuel and his company, Endeavor, are trying to sell off the Miss Universe business.
As reported by the NY Post, Emanuel has been trying to unload the beauty contest for about six months now, but is having trouble finding a buyer for the organization. Notwithstanding, he has held steadfast to the price tag of $20 million for the pageants– which include the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA events. Emanuel has owned the Miss Universe pageant since 2015, when he purchased it from Donald Trump, ahead of the latter’s bid for presidency. The purchase price was not made public. However, former President Trump’s financial statements related his political campaign showed that the business had an estimated value of between $5 million and $25 million, and brought in $3.4 million in revenue, at the time.
Miss Universe has been struggling and has not been a money-making business. Last year’s Miss Universe pageant, which was won by Harnaaz Sandhu from India, garnered just 2.7 million total viewers on Fox. That’s quite a dip from 2019, when the pageant drew 3.8 million viewers, and 2017 when there were 5.2 million total viewers. A source with info on the financials, told the Post that the organization nets $2 million in losses annually, despite revenue of $7 million to $9 million. An inside source said that Miss Universe has been profitable on average since it was purchased by Endeavor – but that the pandemic year messed things up. The organization had to cancel all the events in 2020.
As per the Post, Emanuel has been trying to attract foreign investors from Asia or South America for the business. One person in-the-know, said there is currently a buyer interested, but declined to add details. Another source for the Post, said that Endeavor may need to lower the price by a little in order to seal a sale of Miss Universe. The source added though, that Emanuel doesn’t like “admitting” he “lost money” on any deals, so he probably won’t lower the price “enough” to sell it.
Endeavor has been trying to divest itself of some of the sluggish businesses in its portfolio, as it simultaneously searches to acquire more lucrative divisions such as the money making MMA league UFC, as per the Post. The company has previously also sought to sell off assets so it can make new investments—like when it sold stakes in Epic Games, maker of Fortnite, before going public in 2021.
Endeavor declined to comment.
Emanuel is the CEO of Endeavor, an entertainment and media agency which owns the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The 61-year-old is also a founding partner of the Beverly Hills-based Endeavor Talent Agency. In 2009, he helped that company merge with William Morris Talent Agency. In an article in 2013, Fortune Magazine called Emanuel “one of the biggest guns in the consolidating entertainment business”. A mogul and power player, the fictional Hollywood agent Ari Gold in HBO’s popular show “Entourage, was inspired by Emanuel’s personage. In 2021, when Endeavor went public, Emanuel’s stake was worth roughly $480 million, Bloomberg reported. Emanuel has also partnered up with Patrick Whitesell and they are co-CEOs of IMG, a global sports, events and talent management company headquartered in New York City.