Celebs That Own A Chunk Of UFC: Ben Affleck, Sylvester Stallone, Serena Williams And More

A few months ago, Silver Lake Partners’ William Morris Endeavor Entertainment (WME-IMG) acquired the Ultimate Fighting Championship for $4 billion. What wasn't widely known at the time is that the talent agency had convinced several of its clients to invest in the venture.

On Thursday, Conan O'Brien said he was part of a group of celebrities that own stakes in UFC. The celeb-bunch includes Ben Affleck, Tom Brady, Mark Wahlberg, Adam Levine, Cam Newton, LL Cool J, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams and Sylvester Stallone.

In fact, there are 23 celebrities invested in UFC at this time, according to the Wall Street Journal, adding Venus Williams, Tyler Perry and Jimmy Kimmel to O’Brien’s list.

Terms of the investments in question weren't disclosed, but we do know that most of them are represented by WME-IMG, which approached them with the opportunity based on their love for sports. The firm’s co-CEO Ari Emanuel was asked about IPO plans for UFC, but declined to comment.

“For Mr. Emanuel, assets such as UFC give his company a more-stable stream of revenue to balance out the more unpredictable talent-representation business," says WSJ. "Mr. Emanuel says only about half the revenue from across all WME-IMG holdings is drawn from talent representation, with the other half derived from assets it owns,” including the Miss Universe Organization and Professional Bull Riders Inc.

Image: Antonio Fucito, Flickr

Posted In: NewsWall Street JournalFinancingSportsM&AMediaGeneralufcWilliam MorrisWME
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