Endeavor Sells Content Studio to South Korean Media Company for $775 Million

Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. has sold a majority stake in its content studio to South Korean media company CJ ENM.

The talent holding company sold 80% of its stake in Endeavor Content, which it founded in 2017, according to terms reached with the Writers Guild of America earlier in 2021 to resume representing writer clients in exchange for relinquishing control of its content arm. CJ ENM, whose CJ Entertainment Inc. produced Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning “Parasite,” will pay $775 million for the stake, which the Wall Street Journal first reported Nov. 18.

The deal values Endeavor Content at $850 million, and Endeavor will retain 20% of the company, holding onto its film sale and nonscripted divisions. The sale follows fellow talent agency Creative Artists Agency’s June divestiture of its Wiip studio to South Korean media company Joongang Tongyang Broadcasting Co.
 
In 2019, the WGA filed suit against the four biggest talent agencies, which included Endeavor, CAA, United Talent Agency and ICM Partners over the practice of “packaging” talent to prospective studios, which the WGA argued was a conflict of interest.