Sam Gores Goes It Alone – Why That UTA-Paradigm Deal Fell Apart – WrapPRO

Price wasn’t the issue. Timing wasn’t the issue. The WGA dispute wasn’t the issue. Culture wasn’t the issue.

That merger that was about to happen between talent agencies UTA and Paradigm blew up like a summer sandstorm and just as quickly went away.
Why that happened tells you as much about how outside capital is changing the entertainment industry as it does about these individual players. That capital is putting pressure on even thriving companies to get bigger.
Sam Gores decided to resist that.
I spoke to both sides in this negotiation, and from a high-level look, the deal made sense. United Talent Agency is the third largest talent agency after supersize WME-Endeavor and CAA, and it has wisely focused on servicing movie and television talent as its larger competitors have gone into more corporate and branding directions, or into other business…

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