General IPO
April 2, 2021
5 minutes read

UFC Owner Endeavor Files Again For IPO

Endeavor, an entertainment company that owns several businesses including the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) sports league, has filed for an initial public…

Endeavor, an entertainment company that owns several businesses including the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) sports league, has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) once again after abandoning an earlier effort in 2019.

Endeavor has sought to go public again after it abandoned earlier efforts to do so due to unfavorable market conditions. It has made some notable changes as it’s seeking an IPO for the second time, including the nomination of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to its board of directors.

According to its S-1 filing, Endeavor brought in $3.48 billion in revenue for 2020, down from $4.57 billion the previous year. The revenue drop over the year isn’t surprising as the 2020 pandemic negatively affected live entertainment activities, particularly the UFC live events for Endeavor.

Endeavor’s major businesses are the UFC sports league and talent and marketing agencies WME and IMG. Its three primary business segments are sports leagues, talent representation, and events ownership. Along with UFC, the company also owns the popular Miss Universe pageant event.

In its S-1 filing, it’s revealed that Endeavor has signed agreements with investors for a private placement that could raise up to $1.8 billion. Investors that committed to the placement include Dragoneer Investment, Coatue Management, MSD Capital, and Chinese tech giant Tencent.

Endeavor says it’ll use the money to be raised from the private placement along with that raised from its IPO to buy additional minority interests that it doesn’t own in the UFC sports league.

Endeavor is headed by CEO Ari Emanuel and executive chairman Patrick Whitesell, both renowned Hollywood agents. Together they built up Endeavor from the ground up beginning with a talent agency that then grew into an entertainment conglomerate.