Lagardère Sports and Entertainment last Monday night fired its head of tennis, John Tobias, a move that followed two high-profile talent defections from his group in the past year.
The clients, Victoria Azarenka and Eugenie Bouchard, each went to WME-IMG, underscoring the competitive wave that company is sending through the sport under its new Hollywood owners.
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TOBIAS
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Well-regarded within tennis, Tobias had 2 1/2 years remaining on a five-year contract. In his 13 years for the firm and its predecessor companies, he helped build the group from a few clients to one with more than 60.
“I’m very disappointed for how this has gone down at Lagardère,” he said. “I’ve been terminated without cause. I’ve been with this group for 13 years and have some very close personal friendships. I’m especially disappointed for how this might impact my clients and colleagues whom I have enjoyed working with for so long. I’m really proud of the business I was part of building but never envisioned it would end like this.”
Andy Pierce, president and CEO, Americas, for the agency, said Tobias got caught up in plans to add more media and event businesses to tennis and not just focus on talent representation.
“John is very well-liked here and very well-respected here, and we have got some changes going on, some global integration issues,” Pierce said. “Nothing nefarious.”
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Victoria Azarenka and Eugenie Bouchard (below) have left Lagardère for WME-IMG in the past year.
Photos by: GETTY IMAGES
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Pierce conceded that keeping some of Tobias’ direct clients, including Caroline Wozniacki and Andy Murray, could prove challenging.
“We certainly know we need to provide services to them,” he said. “We need to figure it out.”
Wozniacki, 25, is the third-highest-compensated female athlete in the world, a rank that Tobias played a large role in establishing. He signed her when she was 14.
Sources close to Lagardère said the agency gave Tobias an ultimatum several months ago to fire the members of his group who personally managed Bouchard and Azarenka, and he declined. Pierce fired Tobias in person in New York last Monday night at a hotel bar, as corporate lawyers cleared out his office in Los Angeles, one of the sources said.
When questioned whether Tobias had been asked to make changes to his group, Pierce did not directly answer.
“He is a dedicated agent and very good at what he
does,” said Lawrence Frankopan, whose boutique firm, StarWing Sports, represents tennis players. “We had our differences when we were younger, and we went after clients, locked heads. I respect him.”
Tobias, a SportsBusiness Journal/Daily Forty Under 40 winner in 2012, said he does not currently have other plans and is even unsure whether he will stay in the business.
Pierce said Andrew Georgiou, Lagardère Sports and Entertainment chief operating officer, would take on a greater role in managing tennis. Also, Julien Cassaigne, a former top junior player, will have an elevated role in tennis, Pierce said.
Cassaigne, who works out of Paris, is close friends with Arnaud Lagardère, who owns the French holding company Lagardère Group. Cassaigne, who has served as conduit to Lagardère for the sports group, was best man at his boss’s wedding.
“He is a great deal maker, has a fantastic future also,” Lagardère wrote in an email of Cassaigne. “A tough challenge but as a previous player he has this unique fighting spirit.”
Lagardère also described Cassaigne’s role as “head of agents, and probably head of tennis in the future.”
Lagardère is the No. 2 company worldwide in terms of number of tennis player clients, but more daylight has developed between it and the No. 1 company, WME-IMG. Since WME acquired IMG last year, that agency in tennis has signed a number of high-profile players, including Petra Kvitova and Jack Sock, in addition to Bouchard and Azarenka.
