Gores’ Firms Sell Media Distributor

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The billionaire Gores brothers’ private equity firms have sold Alliance Entertainment LLC to smaller Irvine music and video wholesaler Super D, the firms announced Thursday.

Alliance, which is based in Coral Springs, Fla., is considered the nation’s largest wholesale distributor of CD, DVD and Blu-Ray titles, with estimated annual revenue of $795 million. It provides distribution and order fulfillment services to both online and traditional retailers, including Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com.

Platinum Equity, the Beverly Hills private equity firm led by Tom Gores, and Gores Group, the Westwood investment firm lead by Alec Gores, acquired Alliance from Source Interlink Companies Inc. in 2011.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but industry publication Billboard estimates that Super D could have paid as much as $125 million for Alliance.

“We are proud of what we accomplished with Alliance Entertainment over the past three years,” Johnny Lopez, a partner at Platinum Equity, said in a statement. “We achieved our goals, helping the business thrive as it has continued navigating the evolving market for media distribution.”

Super D was on the Orange County Business Journal’s list of the fastest-growing companies last year with $193 million in sales for the 12 months ended June 2012.