Preview: CAA/ICM: Done Deal
EXCLUSIVE: an announcement's coming as early as Friday. But who's mad and who's popping Champagne?
A couple thoughts on this week’s passing parade below, but first, a breaking story from The Ankler’s Peter Kiefer on the CAA/ICM merger. Here it is:
The ink isn’t quite dry yet, but CAA’s acquisition of rival agency ICM Partners is finally on the brink of becoming a reality after a 10-month gestation. According to several sources with knowledge of the matter, agents who are making the move to CAA are being told that the merger is expected to be concluded as early as Friday with an announcement coming early next week, possibly Monday.
For CAA’s triumvirate of principals and ICM CEO Chris Silbermann, the prospect of getting over the finish line comes not a moment too soon. Originally announced back on September 27, the initial expectation was that the deal would close by the end of 2021, or at the latest in the beginning of 2022. Since then the merger, which whittles down four major agencies to just three, has been marred by a spate of departures from both agencies and scrutiny by the Biden administration.
In January, word leaked that the Department of Justice was conducting an inquiry of the deal, delaying it even further and thus allowing just enough time for some unwanted (or perhaps, encouraged) soul-searching on the parts of more than a dozen ICM agents who have since departed the agency. Regardless, it seems that nearly everyone is furious at Silbermann from the ICM side: “He is the most hated man in town” says a source, who says that Silbermann has left his former ICM partners in the dark, and also high and dry with little leverage to push back against compensation packages that border on “insulting.”
This has been a sneak preview of today’s edition of The Ankler, the industry’s secret newsletter. To read the rest of this issue, subscribe today for just $17 a month and don’t miss out on who’s in the hot seat next!
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