CAA boss Bryan Lourd is reportedly dealing with DOJ antitrust considerations of his firm's deal to purchase rival ICM.
Getty Photographs for Lincoln Heart
The Division of Justice is probing a significant Hollywood deal that’s poised to disrupt the expertise company ecosystem and leisure trade, in line with a report.
The DOJ is scrutinizing CAA’s acquisition of ICM, two main Hollywood expertise companies that signify a few of Tinseltown’s largest stars, in line with The Hollywood Reporter.
CAA, the company that reps Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Scarlett Johansson, revealed in September that it will purchase ICM, house of Shonda Rhimes, Alec Baldwin and Uma Thurman, noting that the deal would shut by the tip of 2021.
However a brand new inquiry by the DOJ over how the merger between two main companies would impression the Hollywood panorama, has delayed the deal, which is now anticipated to shut within the second quarter of this 12 months, nameless sources instructed THR late Wednesday.
CAA, ICM and the DOJ didn't instantly reply to requests for remark.
If a deal between CAA and ICM closes, the expertise company panorama would have three main gamers in Endeavor-owned WME, CAA and UTA, together with smaller rivals like APA, Gersh and Paradigm.
The DOJ’s antitrust division, led by Assistant Lawyer Normal Jonathan Kanter, has already interviewed high executives at CAA and ICM in addition to some outsiders like APA CEO Jim Gosnell, a supply instructed THR.
The probe might have been launched after Hollywood unions such because the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA voiced their considerations, the supply mentioned.
After the CAA-ICM deal was initially introduced, SAG-AFTRA nationwide govt director Duncan Crabtree-Eire mentioned in an announcement that the union would “rigorously scrutinize this mix of two storied expertise companies to make sure that performers will profit from, and are usually not deprived by, the deal.”
When THR reached out to CAA in September, co-chairman Bryan Lourd mentioned he was “very assured” the deal would undergo. However the DOJ antitrust division and the Federal Commerce Fee has been vital of the excessive quantity of M&A exercise below President Biden.
The DOJ sued to dam ViacomCBS’ sale of guide writer Simon & Schuster to Penguin Random Home, citing considerations that the deal would give “outsized affect over who and what's revealed, and the way a lot authors are paid for his or her work.”
There may be additionally a slew of different offers which will pique considerations. They embody Discovery’s deal to merge with WarnerMedia, Amazon’s acquisition of Hollywood studio MGM, and the merger of Spanish-language media giants Univision and Televisa.
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