EXCLUSIVE: I’ve been digging for several days, and some of the details are still sketchy. But I can report that Joe Ravitch, formerly an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, and Jeff Sine, formerly an investment banker at UBS Warburg, are starting a new boutique investment advisory business about media and entertainment that will involve both Endeavor and Teddy Forstmann. The company, which doesn’t yet have a name, is supposed to begin in June. Not everything is nailed down yet. (One of the reasons everything is so hush-hush is because I hear the two men have non-competes so some of this is rather delicate.) From what I understand from film financing circles, the new company will be run separately from Endeavor but closely involve the agency. Forstmann is said to be funding the new biz. (“Uncle Teddy is putting up some money for Joe and Jeff to have some capital — not a lot — to play with,” says one of my sources.) Another source tells me that Ravitch-Sine also may join with Teddy to run his annual closed-to-the-press confab in Aspen held every September. As I told you, Forstmann has nothing to do with the potential WMA-Endeavor merger. But it’s no secret that Ravitch is advising Endeavor on the deal. And both Ravitch and Sine have been hanging out at Endeavor’s NY office now that they’ve left their respective firms. Anyway, it’s all interesting.
An LA Times Correction You Won’t See…
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.


So people are pulling strings to put together and surround CAA with a shadow Hollywood that they can call their own? That IS interesting.
So Endeavor DOESN’T have the equity to make a fair merger with WMA. A.) They had to go scare up partners, and/or B.)They were mickey mousing WMA in the event that the merger wouldn’t go through, and/or C.) They’ve been scouting around for juice to have the leverage to control things when they walk through the front door.
Cash emergencies. You see them right?
“Mr. Sutton, why do you rob banks?”
“Because that’s where the money is.”
Got a new suggestion for the name of the possible merger of WMA and Endeavor -
ENDEAVOR ATM, LLC. That’s what it will shake down to no matter how it goes down.
Modi and Asif OUT and relegated to chop shop producers
Joe Ravitch IN to build the consulting empire
And so it goes…
“the new company will be run separately from Endeavor but closely involve the agency.”
What does Media Rights Capital think of all this?
So what will they be doing? Divesting the studios, the networks and their production companies now that there’s no more Wall St cash for them to burn?
After all, they can only get smaller, since everyone knows that they are inefficient and unproductive business as it is.
Endeavor is a good television agency that is a bad business model….too many agents…not enough reveunue…They have NO 100 million dollar packages like “Raymond”…Ari is a well publicized charming front man…but there is no substance….lots of hype and good publicity …but they are hurting for cash…
no $100m packages?
TWO AND HALF MEN, KING OF THE HILL, THE OFFICE, 30 ROCK, ENTOURAGE, FAMILY GUY, AMERICAN DAD, PARKS AND REC, RULES OF ENGAGEMENT, EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS, SUNNY, UGLY BETTY, CSI x 3, WITHOUT A TRACE, HEROES, GOSSIP GIRL
They do ok
Speaking of MRC, how much does Asif hate himself, and more importantly, Modi, for getting him into this mess. He used to be the cool one dropping into LA to advise on big-money deals. Now he’s in the trenches, scrambling around town peddling cheap Bob Saget headlined TV shows.
Ari must have woken up and smelled that Asif is a wanna-be financier with bullshit credentials (what did the guy do again? Sell a crap internet company with no revenues to another crap Internet company for stock and cashed out a little during a bubble. Big deal) and Modi is a good salesman but not capable of building a media empire. Ravitch at least has high-end contacts and credibility which will allow Ari to finally up his game a bit. MRC is a failed experiment in empire building. Next.
Ari and Patrick know what a joke Dave and Jim are. Irv is a loser that just wants to cash out. The only thing Ari and patrick want is music nd unscripted. The deal wont happen. But Morris needs to get back in postion quickly before more clients leave.
Jim and Dave are in an unenviable position. Even if the deal doesn’t happen it’s so clear Ari has controlled the message from the start. You don’t think a lot of top talent at WMA hasn’t noticed? They will most likely bleed more clients if this doesn’t go through. Even if they don’t jump ship to Endeavor specifically it will be a net loss and strengthen the other big five.
If this deal doesn’t go through, Jim needs serious damage control from some kind of crisis management firm. Although WMA has the cash, they will long term be hurt more by this as it has been revealed the emperor isn’t just naked, he’s been cut in this knife fight quite badly.
Winning formula my a**!! This is yet another example of the CREATIVE-LESS Disney machine.