WME/IMG takes bold swing with $4 bln UFC acquisition

‘We are committed to pursuing new opportunities for UFC’

LOS ANGELES, July 11, (RTRS): WME/ IMG is taking another big swing at transforming and diversifying its far-flung business operations with the $4 billion acquisition of mixed martial arts organization Ultimate Fighting Championship.

WME/IMG and its private equity partners Silver Lake, KKR and Michael Dell’s MSD Capital, L.P. and MSD Partners, L.P. confirmed the deal Monday. The agreement is said to be an all cash transacbut his sons Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta will retain a passive minority interest in UFC.

The deal is the biggest content acquisition for WME/IMG since the Hollywood talent agency and sports and events powerhouse were brought together in late 2013. UFC produces more than 40 live events a year and distributes its bouts to TV outlets in 156 countries and in 29 languages. The MMA giant is considered one of the U.S.’s fastest-growing sports franchises, one that has strong appeal to millennials.

“No other sport compares to UFC,” remarked Dana White, UFC’s President who will continue in that role. “Our goal has always been to put on the biggest and the best fights for our fans, and to make this the biggest sport in the world. I’m looking forward to working with WME | IMG to continue to take this sport to the next level.”

Once UFC let it be known that it was on the market, the charge to acquire UFC was driven by IMG chief content officer Mark Shapiro.

Bringing UFC into the fold is consistent with the effort under co-CEOs Emanuel and Whitesell to reinvent the company by putting it squarely in the content production and distribution business with properties such as the Professional Bull Riders league and the Miss Universe Organization -- which were acquired in 2014 and 2015, respectively, by WME/IMG.

In a media landscape that is increasingly global and increasingly digital, UFC was a natural fit for a company that aims to be a heavyweight player in TV content distribution, advertising and sponsorship sales. WME/IMG’s quick expansion has separated it from the pack of its Hollywood talent agency competitors.

Even CAA with its investment in sports and sports rights deals, marketing and event-related services has not ventured as aggressively into creating content that it controls outright.

The UFC deal will add further fuel to the speculation that WME/IMG is preparing an IPO in the near future, in part to help its primary private equity investor, Silver Lake, realize a return on the investments it has backed for the agency since they first teamed in 2012. The steady revenue and cash flow stream provided by UFC could go a long way toward smoothing out the inevitable ups and downs of the core talent agency business.

WME/IMG has represented UFC stars including Ronda Rousey, giving it a ringside seat to the growth of the UFC’s appeal in recent years. Brittany Lang poses with the trophy on the 18th green after defeating Anna Nordqvist of Sweden in a three hole playoff to

win the US Women’s Open at Corde Valle Golf Club on July 9, in San Martin, California. (AFP)

SAN FRANCISCO, July 11, (AFP): Brittany Lang won the US Women’s Open on Sunday in a three-hole playoff over Anna Nordqvist, whose challenge was doomed by a two-stroke penalty at the second playoff hole.

Nordqvist was penalized for grounding her club in a fairway bunker, with video showing her club barely touching the sand before she hit out.

That paved the way for Lang — who parred all three playoff holes — to capture her first major title at CordeValle in San Martin, California.

The two had ended regulation tied on six-under par 282 — two shots in touched a little bit of sand and that is a penalty. I just wish they would have told me a little earlier.”

Nordqvist said she might have been a little more aggressive with her shot into the green if she’d known she was two strokes adrift.

“It might not have changed anything, but I just wish it was a little bit earlier.”

The US Golf Association’s timing in telling the players of Nordqvist’s penalty recalled the rules fracas at the men’s US Open, where the USGA came in for criticism of its handling of a penalty assessed eventual winner Dustin Johnson — who was told by on-course officials he wouldn’t be penalized after his ball moved on a green, then told he might be, then finally was.

While Nordqvist wished she’d learned sooner of the penalty, she had no argument with the decision.

“Hey, I made a mistake and I will have to take the consequences for it,” she said.

Lang sympathised with Nordqvist, acknowledging that knowing she had a cushion made things easier for her as she hit into the final playoff hole.

“Definitely it took a little bit of pressure off me,” she said.

Ko, seeking at 19 to become the youngest golfer to win a third major title, led after three rounds and had stretched her advantage to two strokes with a birdie at the sixth.

But the New Zealander followed a bogey at the eighth with a doublebogey at the ninth.

“When you’re doubling a par-five, it doesn’t help the scorecard,” acknowledged Ko, who had two more bogeys and a birdie coming in.

South Korea’s Park Sung-Hyun, who led after 36 holes, bogeyed the last to complete a 74 that left her tied for third on 284 alongside Ko and South Koreans Amy Yang (73) and Ji Eun-Hee (74).