William Morris Endeavor Today Closes On Acquisition Of IMG

William Morris Endeavor today closed its acquisition of IMG. WME-IMG co-CEO Patrick Whitesell sent employees an e-mail letting them know that the deal had been completed. He thanked staff for their hard work over the last few months as the deal closed. Whitesell wrote in his e-mail that he was looking forward to working with employees at IMG and looking forward to expanding the business together. He and WME-IMG co-CEO Ari Emanuel will oversee the combined company. It will have a total valuation of $3.5B, according to financial documents shared with bankers in February. WME is expected to begin cutting costs from IMG’s business. It plans to cut $151M in the first 18 months of ownership with $14M of that coming in the first six months, according to documents obtained by SportsBusiness Journal. The cuts are expected to come through consolidating operations, reducing vendors, cutting staff and eliminating excess office space.