Endeavor listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EDR. The stock, which was priced at $24 peaked at $28.47 before ending the day up 5% at $25.26.
The company offered a total of 21.3 million shares. Opening day trading was active, with volume of 15,778,621.
In September 2019, Endeavor abandoned an attempt to go public the day its shares were supposed to hit the market. The company had looked to raise at least $405 million at a valuation of $6.5 billion.
Endeavor announced new plans to go public on March 31.
In an April 20 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it planned to raise $511.2 million with its initial public offering. Endeavor had a valuation of around $10 billion, according to the filing.
The IPO filing also said Elon Musk, co-founder and chief executive of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and Tesla Inc., will join Endeavor’s board of directors.
Endeavor said it will also raise $1.7 billion in a private placement with a host of investors, including Chinese technology conglomerate Tencent Holdings Ltd., New York-based firm Elliott Management Corp., and Menlo Park-based private equity firm Silver Lake Partners.
Silver Lake Partners, Endeavor’s senior executives and other controlling investors will hold nearly 90% of Endeavor’s stock, according to an SEC filing. Investors who bought into the company’s IPO will hold roughly 8.4% of the company’s stock, the filing stated.
Founded in 1995 by Ari Emanuel, the company’s chief executive, Endeavor’s assets include talent agency William Morris Endeavor, sports management company IMG and the Miss Universe Organization.
Endeavor’s revenue plummeted nearly 24% to $3.5 billion for 2020 with a net loss of more than $625 million as the pandemic hammered parts of the entertainment industry. The company laid off 250 people last year.
Many of Endeavor’s senior executives declined to take salaries in 2020, but they still received handsome compensation packages.
Some members of the Endeavor exec team are among the highest paid in Los Angeles, according to a federal securities filing and data collected by the Business Journal.
For 2020, Emanuel received total compensation, including bonus and stock awards, of $14.3 million. Endeavor President Mark Shapiro received $18.1 million.
Other company executives with notable payouts for 2020 included Executive Chairman Patrick Whitesell, who received $3.2 million, Chief Financial Officer Jason Lublin, who earned $2.5 million, and Chief Legal Officer Seth Krauss, who received $3.1 million.
Emanuel and Shapiro did not respond to requests for comment.
