Endeavor Goes Public At $24 Per Share

Endeavor
 – Endeavor

Endeavor has gone public with a share price of $24 per share as the parent company of talent agencies WME and IMG, Professional Bull Riding, Miss Universe, UFC, and many others, after an initial IPO attempt was stalled in September 2019.  At press time EDR’s share price was at $24.379 or up 1.58%, on a day where the major U.S. market indexes were mostly flat. 

According to an April 28 release, Endeavor is offering 21,300,000 shares of its Class A common stock, plus up to an additional 3,195,000 shares of Class A common stock that the underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase. The offering is expected to close on May 3, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.
According to a prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and reported by the Los Angeles Times, Endeavor hopes to raise $511 million with the IPO, which would value the company at about $10 billion. 
For comparison, Live Nation, the standalone live entertainment giant that produces tours, owns Ticketmaster and operates venues across the world, has a market capitalization of around $18 billion. Other publicly traded live or live-adjacent companies include Ryman Hospitality ($4.3 billion) and Madison Square Garden Entertainment ($2.3 billion), which spun off separately from the newly formed MSG Sports. 
Endeavor registered to make an initial public offering in May of 2019, marking the first major talent agency to be traded publicly, but was pulled in September after not generating the interest it had hoped and volatile market conditions including an ongoing dispute with the major agencies and the Writers Guild of America, although that has been resolved.
Despite the difficulties of the live entertainment industry over the past year, Endeavor top execs Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell remain bullish. 
“As challenging a year as 2020 was, it underscored the strength, creativity, and resilience of our people who mobilized time and time again in the face of overwhelming odds. We made difficult decisions but worked as a team to find creative solutions and best position the business for the future,” wrote Ari Emanuel in the prospectus’ letter from the CEO.