Casey Wasserman Bucks the M&A Lull, Notching 6 Deals in the Past 19 Months

When it comes to big time mergers and acquisitions, Hollywood of late has been in a state of suspended animation following union strikes and fires, and amidst the uncertainty around how President Trump’s policies may impact the markets.

Still, some companies have been able to fly under the radar to expand by snapping up players working outside of traditional Hollywood’s bailiwick of streaming, linear TV and theatrical film, say experts. Live entertainment and sports, they note, has allowed some to continue to play ball in uncertain times.

Enter Casey Wasserman, chairman and CEO of Wasserman, which provides sports marketing and talent management services on a global scale. He’s also chairman of the LA28 Olympic planning committee and a leader in LA Rises, a private sector initiative to support wildfire recovery. Wasserman has also had to weather some unwelcome press, facing accusations of being a “serial cheater” guilty of sleeping with staff members.

But while the press has been busy with his public life, Wasserman has been busy at the dealmaking table at a time when sports media is a much coveted sector — Endeavor’s Patrick Whitesell recently left his old firm to form a company that will pursue sports deals backed by private equity giant Silver Lake, and Endeavor-backed TKO Group Holdings is also poised to expand its sports properties.

As for Wasserman, he has quietly acquired six companies in the past 19 months, including the most recent acquisition, branding and signage company bluemedia, announced on March 3, as recently noted in the Los Angeles Business Journal. Bluemedia delivered the branding and signage at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.

The company, located in Tempe, Arizona, will merge into the Wasserman Live Division but will continue to operate in Tempe.

In September, Wasserman acquired Canadian hockey player management company Momentum Hockey; London-based International Football Management and Sherman Oaks-based Long Haul Management, a creative agency.

There’s more: In 2023, Wasserman also acquired London-based marketing firm International CSM Sports & Entertainment and Toronto-based trevor//peter, a lifestyle agency. Only one 2023 acquisition, talent agency Brillstein Entertainment Partners, could be called a traditional Hollywood company.

Said Wasserman in a March 3 statement on bluemedia: “We look forward to working together and continuing to push the boundaries of what’s achievable as we bring the world’s leading sports and entertainment events to life.”

The company declined TheWrap’s request for further comment, and financial details of these recent deals were not disclosed.

Eric Perlmutter-Gumbiner, a partner at Greenberg Glusker law firm who specializes in industry mergers and acquisitions, says some entertainment companies are looking to expand ancillary services such as social media marketing in a one-stop shopping approach for their clients.

“The economy is uncertain, and it’s changing right now … but there’s a lot of pockets inside of this industry where people are doing really well and making a lot of money,” Perlmutter-Gumbiner told TheWrap. “I think we’re seeing pivots toward that and a focus on expanding and growing their businesses into those areas where others have found success.”

Added Perlmutter-Gumbiner, “when you look at the options of building or buying, I think that buying makes sense here, because there’s a lot of really talented, smart people who’ve already built, and it’s going to be really hard to overcome their head start.”

Lloyd Greif, CEO of the Los Angeles-based investment banking firm Greif & Co, called Wasserman’s focus on live events a safe one. “He (Wasserman) is like an oasis in a desert right now, the desert that’s in the media space overall,” Greif told TheWrap. “And I think that’s why he’s doubling and tripling down with acquisition after acquisition after acquisition because (it appears) that no one is paying attention.”

A third player?

That is, except the biggest players in the sports and live events business, Greif said. “I guarantee you, Endeavor‘s paying attention. Live Nation‘s paying attention. Direct competitors are paying attention,” Greif said. “I think there’ll be a third major player, and it’ll be (Wasserman) joining the ranks of Endeavor and Live Nation.”

Added Greif, “There’s no question that what Trump’s doing has set the economy on edge, and we may be teetering towards a recession. And then you have (Trump) viewing the media is the enemy, the liberal media anyway, as he describes, the progressive media.

“What Casey (Wasserman) is doing is operating under the veil in what I would call a safe zone from Trump, because Trump clearly likes sports and entertainment, right? It’s not something he’s going after right now.”

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