ICM Future TBD

The ICM power play enters another week after a potential game-changer never arrived.

By now it’s well-known that the agency’s chairman, Jeff Berg, and president, Chris Silbermann, have been warring over the reins. Silbermann was to broker a management buyout from investor Suhail Rizvi but, according to Deadline Hollywood’s Nikki Finke, that never materialized.

Silbermann was expected to get the 40 percent interest in the company, then call a board meeting about the company’s direction. Instead, Rizvi reportedly told Silbermann he wasn’t ready to sell his stake and one insider said Rizvi would not until Silbermann put something in writing.

Hence, no board meeting.

Meanwhile, Silbermann’s buyout plan remains “so ill-formed” that he has had a hard time explaining it to agents. That apparently hasn’t gone over well, nor has telling them that a new direction could equal up to a 50 percent cut in pay if backing doesn’t come through.

The name of CAA founder Michael Ovitz has come up because of his personal and professional ties to Silbermann, but sources tell Finke that Ovitz does not have the ability to raise $50 million, let alone the reported $200 million it would take to buy out Rizvi.