[5] Endeavor is majority owner of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) through TKO Group.
[6][7] In collegiate athletics Endeavor-Learfield IMG represents The American, A10, Big 12, Conference USA, Horizon League, MAC, MEAC, OVC, SEC and WCC.
[10] By 2009, it was one of the fastest-growing Hollywood talent agencies, with The New York Times singling out its reputation for "quick thinking, ferocity and barely bridled ambition".
[15] In 2011, Emanuel was quoted in a Financial Times profile about the company saying, "We built a culture where people are rewarded for taking risks.
Fortune named co-CEOs Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell to their 2010 "Businessperson of the Year" list, acknowledging their corporate growth strategies.
"[20][21][22] In July 2011, the company and its foundation created Camp Summer Eagle, which provides donations and activities for schoolchildren at Foster Elementary in Compton, California.
[23] Shortly after the merger, WME helped launch the investment group Raine,[24] which aligned the company with properties like Vice Media and Zumba Fitness.
[30] A new executive committee, consisting of Co-CEOs Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell and Silver Lake Managing Director Egon Durban, was formed to lead the company's growth strategy and investment activities.
[39] On July 9, 2016, Zuffa, LLC, the parent company of Ultimate Fighting Championship, was sold to a group led by WME-IMG, its owner Silver Lake Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and MSD Capital, for $4.025 billion, the largest-ever acquisition in the sports industry.
[42][43] WME/IMG purchased in August 2017 a majority stake in Bloom, a film finance and sales company led by Ken Kao and Alex Walton.
[52] On May 24, 2019, Endeavor filed forms for an initial public offering (IPO) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that would have valued the company at $7.6 billion.
[53][54] Also included in the filing was the statement that subsidiary WME Dragon Holdings LLC, which bought 49 percent of advertising agency Droga5 in 2013, agreed to sell its interest in Droga5 to Accenture Interactive for $233 million.
[55] On September 26, 2019, a day before it planned to go public, Endeavor Group announced that the IPO had been postponed in order to "evaluate the timing for the proposed offering as market conditions develop.
[58] On March 30, 2021, Endeavor Group announced a new planned IPO for later in 2021, with Elon Musk and Fawn Weaver nominated to join its board of directors.
[69] On June 8, 2021, Endeavor began to seek a partner for the division in compliance with the agreement, with the whole sales team returning to the company to start the process.
[70][71][72] On October 28, 2021, Endeavor started to solicit second-round bids for more than $750 million, with three equity firms and two strategic companies among those in the running.
[80] Vince McMahon will serve as executive chairman of the new entity, Emanuel as CEO, and Mark Shapiro as president and chief operating officer.
[6][82] Emanuel said that the merger would "bring together two leading pureplay sports and entertainment companies" and provide "significant operating synergies", while McMahon stated that "given the incredible work that Ari and Endeavor have done to grow the UFC brand—nearly doubling its revenue over the past seven years—and the immense success we’ve already had in partnering with their team on a number of ventures, I believe that this is without a doubt the best outcome for our shareholders and other stakeholders."
[87] As part of the buyout, Endeavor began to divest some of its assets; in August 2024, Endeavor announced plans to put its sports betting businesses OpenBet and IMG Arena up for sale,[88] and in October 2024, announced plans to divest IMG, PBR, and On Location Experiences to TKO Group in an all-stock deal valued at $3.25 billion.
[89][90] On November 11, 2024, it was announced that OpenBet and IMG Arena would be sold to OB Global Holdings, LLC for $450 million, in a management buyout led by Emanuel.