LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) – Los Angeles-based Creative Artists Agency (CAA), one of the biggest entertainment and talent agencies in the world, is in talks to sell a majority stake to French billionaire François-Henri Pinault – the man behind the luxury and fashion empire Kering and the husband of actress Salma Hayek (m. 2009), with whom he shares a daughter.
The deal would have CAA, founded in 1975 and backed by private equity firm TPG, getting a valuation of at least $7 billion, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday (July 13) on anonymous sources. However, one of those sources added that Pinault’s talks with CAA “could still end without an agreement.”
Pinault is behind the Kering Group, whose ownership portfolio includes brands and fashion houses from Balenciaga, Saint Laurent, Gucci, Brioni, Alexander McQueen and more, as well as Kering Eyewear. Kering’s parent company (Artemis Group) was set up in 1992 and counts publishing house Editions Tallandier as an asset, owns a stake in sports brand Puma and has made investments in ByteDance and Deezer.
CAA was started by five agents (Michael S. Rosenfeld, Michael Ovitz, Ronald Meyer, William Haber and Rowland Perkins) who were working at the William Morris Agency, which morphed into William Morris Endeavor (WME).
In 2010, TPG bought a 35% stake in CAA and upped that stake to a reported 53% in 2014. In September 2017, CAA announced that Temasek had acquired a minority stake in its business – however, TPG retained its majority position following the Temasek purchase.
In 2021, CAA made its own acquisition, snapping up rival entertainment and sports agency ICM Partners (ICM). The deal was reported (at the time) to be valued at $750 million with “a pro-forma” enterprise value of $5 billion for the combined firm. CAA promoted CFO James Burtson to President in 2021
Today, CAA has offices around the globe (Shanghai, Atlanta, New York, London, Chicago, Toronto and more) and represents an expansive roster of prominent and in-demand talent working in film, TV, music, video games, theatre, digital content and sports. Some include Adam Driver, Kristen Stewart, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, and Jennifer Aniston, among others.
The company represents some of the world’s biggest names in comedy, touring and music, such as Alabama, A$AP Rocky, Lady Gaga, Tim McGraw, Justin Bieber, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus and more.
The Bloomberg report comes at a critical time for the Hollywood elite as SAG-AFTRA confirmed Thursday (July 13) that it would go on strike against the film and TV companies that make up the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), joining the Writers Guild of America (WGA) on the picket lines. It’s the second time in history that Hollywood talent has joined writers in a strike.
