ICM Power Play Dissipates

The reported infighting at ICM is apparently over. The turmoil subsided thanks to a decision by investor Suhail Rizvi to sell his 40 percent stake in ICM to an agency-wide partnership.

ICM chairman Jeff Berg and president Chris Silbermann have been said to be warring for position at the company.

Berg has been silent on the matter but Silberman voiced his concerns “to other ICM senior agents and also at investment banks and even in barrooms from Beverly Hills to Telluride to Toronto,” according to Deadline Hollywood’s Nikki Finke.

Silbermann apparently asked Rizvi for a management buyout that never came. Meanwhile, something had to be done because ICM was receiving too many phone calls from client representatives fearing an implosion.

However, the boat was apparently righted Dec. 9 before the ICM holiday party. Rizvi Traverse Management has decided to sell its shares to an agency-wide partnership, several sources told The Wrap. Berg and Silbermann may have new titles, but they will remain at the company with Silbermann expected to steer ICM toward a more TV-powered agency and less of a movie-centric one (music and publishing will remain untouched), according to Deadline.

“They have successfully shifted the conversation into a management buyout story, but the fundamental problem still persists,” a source from a rival agency told Finke. “In other words, they may have stopped the implosion, but they haven’t stopped the erosion. More agents and clients are going to be exiting.”

But other insiders were not as confident the turmoil made the agency vulnerable.

“There will be a restructuring of ICM,” a source told Deadline. “Even Jeff is saying this is a deal that could be good for everybody. But there’s now no doubt that Chris will have more power, and Jeff will have less power.”

An ICM representative did not respond for comment at press time.