Search:

AI, Attention, and Ownership: Ari Emanuel Explains the Next Era of Entertainment

November 05, 202527:25
00:00:00
[Applause]
00:00:04
Ari Emanuel, the newest kingpin of
00:00:07
combat sports, one of Hollywood's
00:00:08
biggest power brokers.
00:00:09
It's everywhere from the boardroom to,
00:00:11
you know, even politics. There was
00:00:13
another figure named Arie Gold that many
00:00:16
people thought was named after you.
00:00:17
The straight talking dealmaker has a
00:00:19
reputation for getting what he wants.
00:00:21
I'm back and you're fired.
00:00:23
Emanuel has worked tirelessly to
00:00:24
transform Endeavor into a multi-billion
00:00:27
dollar behemoth.
00:00:29
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Ari
00:00:32
Emanuel.
00:00:33
[Music]
00:00:40
Thank you. Hey, welcome.
00:00:42
When's the last time we saw each other
00:00:44
at that dinner?
00:00:45
Exactly.
00:00:45
Yeah.
00:00:46
Did you see that panel?
00:00:48
Yeah.
00:00:50
You know Alex?
00:00:51
Yeah, I know. Yeah. I think he's great.
00:00:54
I loved his book.
00:00:56
Yeah, the book was incredible.
00:00:57
Yeah. So what's your take?
00:01:00
A lot to cover there on my take.
00:01:03
So
00:01:03
well let's start at the beginning. Ari,
00:01:05
you have had an incredible arc. You've
00:01:08
built an incredible business and
00:01:09
recently you've had the opportunity to
00:01:11
merge a bunch of assets and just the
00:01:12
thing has just taken a a life of its
00:01:14
own. Can you maybe walk us through the
00:01:16
last four or five years of the evolution
00:01:19
of Endeavor and you know your process of
00:01:21
first leaving building a business then
00:01:25
scaling it up and just all of that
00:01:28
action the tick tock of it all.
00:01:30
So um
00:01:32
uh March 29th
00:01:35
when I first came here I was making 15
00:01:37
cents a mile when I moved to LA
00:01:41
went to work at CIA etc. then started
00:01:44
the company March uh 29th on my birthday
00:01:48
30 almost 31 years ago. um had this idea
00:01:52
about where uh content was going from
00:01:55
George Gilder who wrote this book like
00:01:57
for television and said there's going to
00:01:58
be infinite distribution and then
00:02:00
content's going to be really really
00:02:01
valuable and there's going to be many
00:02:04
forms of content and so we kind of went
00:02:07
out and started growing the business and
00:02:10
trying to get into every sector of the
00:02:11
business
00:02:13
made a two- horse race with when we
00:02:16
quote unquote merged with William Morris
00:02:20
Um I think one of my best deals actually
00:02:22
that merger and then um when Teddy
00:02:26
Forceman passed away bought IMG with
00:02:28
Silverlake who had come into the company
00:02:30
and then we were in sports and then we
00:02:33
realized it was all in the
00:02:34
representation business and then
00:02:36
realized that because of what we built
00:02:39
the infrastructure we built in the
00:02:41
global scale we had and the production
00:02:42
and um representation
00:02:46
we could start owning some of the assets
00:02:48
as opposed to just representing them and
00:02:50
kind of put them through our our filters
00:02:52
and kind of create more value. And so
00:02:54
the first thing we did is we bought uh
00:02:57
this company called uh Professional Ball
00:02:59
Riley that was I think making
00:03:03
uh $3 million a year in profit. We
00:03:06
turned it into a really nice business.
00:03:07
It's still growing. And then because of
00:03:10
that um and we had negot you know we
00:03:13
negotiate every day against networks and
00:03:15
studios.
00:03:16
the UFC came up and we said, "Okay,
00:03:20
let's take a big swing." The funny thing
00:03:23
is when we bought IMG, they say we
00:03:25
overpaid. It was the cheapest sports
00:03:27
acquisition ever happened. And
00:03:30
definitely when we bought uh UFC, they
00:03:34
were like at 4.
00:03:35
At the time, it looked incredibly
00:03:36
expensive.
00:03:37
Yeah.
00:03:37
And all we had to do was kind of make a
00:03:40
broadcast deal that then took the
00:03:41
multiple down from 30 20 times to kind
00:03:44
of under 10. We then thought we could
00:03:46
take all those assets. My big mistake
00:03:48
here. Um, a conglomerate.
00:03:50
Yeah.
00:03:51
The marketplace just didn't understand
00:03:52
it.
00:03:53
Yeah.
00:03:54
And so we tried to take it public right
00:03:56
before CO
00:03:58
failed. I didn't realize how hard it was
00:04:01
to go back out. Finally got it back
00:04:03
public. We we kind of rolled all of the
00:04:05
UFC into Endeavor and um we still
00:04:08
weren't getting any value. We then Vince
00:04:12
said yes and we merged the assets. A
00:04:15
pure play was in sports, sports
00:04:17
entertainment was a better conversation
00:04:19
with the street.
00:04:20
I mean when you started we had the
00:04:21
traditional cable networks then we had
00:04:23
cable it was a very high hierarchical
00:04:27
and easy to understand hierarchy
00:04:28
right
00:04:29
and then you have the streamers and now
00:04:31
you know this afternoon we'll have Neil
00:04:32
Moan from YouTube
00:04:33
right
00:04:34
then you have characters like the Mr.
00:04:36
Beast of the world who can go direct so
00:04:38
it's very chaotic.
00:04:40
No it's actually just back to George
00:04:41
Gilder.
00:04:41
It's back to George Gilder. There's
00:04:43
infinite distribution, right? Many forms
00:04:45
of content. People consume podcasts.
00:04:49
People consume, you know, stuff on
00:04:51
Instagram and Tik Tok. People consume
00:04:54
stuff now on the streamers. And so, and
00:04:57
I do I don't believe that traditional
00:04:59
business is going away for a long time
00:05:01
because a lot of us sports guys have the
00:05:04
NFL, the NBA has still sold stuff there
00:05:06
plus also sold it to the Amazons of the
00:05:10
world. And so you just have a vast kind
00:05:13
of map of where distribution is.
00:05:16
So distribution has gotten vast but a
00:05:18
lot of people would say some people
00:05:20
would say the kinds of content has
00:05:22
gotten a little oified calcified rigid
00:05:25
maybe. Um
00:05:26
what does that mean?
00:05:27
Meaning like you know you don't see like
00:05:29
the broad swath of the content that you
00:05:31
would see maybe 15 20 years ago. People
00:05:33
I think there's more content now.
00:05:35
But do you see people taking creative
00:05:36
risk the way that they used to before?
00:05:39
I don't know. I think I think I think I
00:05:42
can't get enough content. I don't think
00:05:44
I don't know about you. There's going to
00:05:45
be more content than there's ever been.
00:05:47
I think there's incredible voices out
00:05:48
there. I think the content that's being
00:05:50
made is it there's a vast majority and I
00:05:53
think it's really incredible.
00:05:55
I do.
00:05:56
Yeah.
00:05:57
Ari, what do you think of podcast and
00:05:59
the general movement of top talent
00:06:02
Megan?
00:06:03
Uh Tucker, you guys.
00:06:05
Okay. Sure. we're we're a little bit
00:06:07
behind them, but um the ability for them
00:06:10
to be independent and not affiliated
00:06:12
with the network,
00:06:14
this is something we have not seen in
00:06:16
the industry. There were gatekeepers.
00:06:18
You used to have to get packaged,
00:06:19
represented, and now,
00:06:21
you know, people come to us all the time
00:06:23
with different opportunities to join
00:06:24
different networks. I won't talk about
00:06:26
any specifics, but we've decided, well,
00:06:28
why would we need them independent?
00:06:30
Yeah. Why why would we need them if we
00:06:32
have this amazing audience? Funny thing
00:06:34
is I think the podcasting business is
00:06:35
going to turn into the syndication
00:06:36
business that used to be on the
00:06:37
broadcast and the station groups. So
00:06:40
Oprah was the
00:06:41
king world kind of thing.
00:06:43
Oprah was the behemoth and then Dr. Phil
00:06:46
and Dr. Oz. She launched a bunch of
00:06:48
you'll probably see that reincarnated
00:06:50
through people with podcast if they want
00:06:53
to.
00:06:53
We saw that at Bartool.
00:06:54
Yeah.
00:06:55
So you're saying we could then
00:06:57
cable syndication model through this
00:07:00
through the multiple channel. We should
00:07:01
be a network and we should develop
00:07:03
talent.
00:07:03
Yeah, you need some representation guys.
00:07:06
But but you know what the problem is
00:07:08
Ari? It's like a lot of the repres
00:07:09
representation to be totally honest.
00:07:12
We don't Yeah. And we would only
00:07:14
consider a peer,
00:07:16
you know, relationship with somebody who
00:07:18
has done it before at a high level. If
00:07:20
you know anybody
00:07:21
Yeah. I don't.
00:07:22
You don't? Well,
00:07:23
anybody good? I don't know. One of the
00:07:25
things we're talking about you Ari.
00:07:26
Yeah. One of the things that I've
00:07:27
noticed has become a common kind of
00:07:29
thread with these big independents is
00:07:32
they move from what used to be kind of
00:07:34
commercial ad placements to sponsor
00:07:36
deals where they got one sponsor to
00:07:37
eventually owning their own business.
00:07:39
Correct.
00:07:39
And the value there is so much greater
00:07:41
cuz the multiple you get a multiple on
00:07:43
revenue. You don't just get advertising
00:07:45
the marketing line.
00:07:46
Right.
00:07:46
You know Tucker has his Alps product
00:07:48
which Jal uh fortunately is not on
00:07:50
today. No, please don't put it on. Uh,
00:07:52
you're saying use the promo code allin.
00:07:54
Well, Jimmy's got his chocolate bar
00:07:57
company. Is that the future, do you
00:07:59
think, for monetization for the big
00:08:01
independents is that they actually own
00:08:02
the equity in what historically have
00:08:04
just been sponsors for them and that's
00:08:06
where the value
00:08:06
Well, you're going to own the equity in
00:08:07
your podcast, right? And then a lot of
00:08:10
people and we started this business I
00:08:13
don't know about 10 years ago we called
00:08:14
we started at WMU called talent ventures
00:08:18
where a lot of musicians actors started
00:08:22
because you know it's with the broadcast
00:08:24
networks and cable channels ratings
00:08:26
going down
00:08:28
you know manufacturers had to get to the
00:08:30
audience and so that they used to do it
00:08:32
through commercials when that rating
00:08:34
went down they started then giving
00:08:36
equity or people started launching you a
00:08:39
lot of different products. Sometime was
00:08:40
alcohol, sometimes perfume, sometime it
00:08:42
was food, etc. That will now start
00:08:45
happening
00:08:47
with people like you, other podcasters.
00:08:50
If Paltro has done an exceptional job
00:08:52
that that's just a natural evolution
00:08:54
because of where broadcast television is
00:08:56
and cable television is manufacturers
00:08:58
going to have to get to an audience. You
00:09:00
guys have a very big and loyal audience.
00:09:03
events and things that you do on you
00:09:05
know over the air. Um
00:09:09
you know products will come to you. You
00:09:11
you will make the decision are are you
00:09:12
taking the sponsorship dollar or you
00:09:14
taking the ownership dollar and that's
00:09:15
just the pro evaluating the economics
00:09:18
and and whether you believe in the
00:09:19
product. There's a lot of things that go
00:09:20
into that.
00:09:21
Yeah. Ari, how much of your time are you
00:09:23
spending trying to figure out where like
00:09:27
all these nextg AI tools either help you
00:09:30
give you maybe operating leverage to
00:09:31
actually go and be even more creative,
00:09:33
own the content versus maybe disrupt
00:09:35
some of the legacy folks you've worked
00:09:36
with?
00:09:37
You know, we have a whole program being
00:09:40
set up at TKO and and and William Morris
00:09:43
about kind of how AI can help us. On the
00:09:46
production side, there's a whole another
00:09:48
that the studios are doing and our
00:09:49
clients are doing.
00:09:52
You know, I have I've made a decision. I
00:09:55
I don't know enough about AI. I'm not
00:09:58
smart enough to know enough about I've
00:10:00
made a decision that live is content is
00:10:03
where I'm going to sit. I'm really good
00:10:05
at that. I'm really good at monetizing
00:10:07
that. So, we have a pure play sports
00:10:09
sports entertainment business. I just
00:10:11
launched which will launch in October
00:10:14
kind of what I believe is the next kind
00:10:16
of live events business. You know, you
00:10:19
have our sports business, you have Live
00:10:21
Nation and Michael Rupinos and
00:10:23
incredible. That's pure play music. And
00:10:25
I think there's when we were a public
00:10:28
company, now we're a private company, we
00:10:29
had 700 events inside Endeavor. I have
00:10:33
um it will be completed in first week in
00:10:35
October. Bought a lot of those, raised
00:10:38
about $2 billion and about 900. And I'm
00:10:40
going to go pure play in events cuz I
00:10:42
think it's the opposite. If you have AI
00:10:45
over there, the opposite bet on AI is
00:10:48
not data centers. It's live.
00:10:50
Humans want connection. Keep going back
00:10:52
to live.
00:10:52
And I think it's kind of like a 4-day
00:10:55
work week now. Probably going down to
00:10:56
three. I was seeing Elon and seeing the
00:10:59
robots. Probably 3-day work week for
00:11:01
full employment. There going to be a lot
00:11:03
of free time. We definitely all need
00:11:05
connections as we can see right here.
00:11:07
And so my whole thesis is live. Um, and
00:11:10
I think on the William Morris side,
00:11:12
which is incredible, there's only two
00:11:14
representation business. William Morris
00:11:16
is the biggest one of all of them. And
00:11:18
there's going to be more room for
00:11:19
content.
00:11:19
I want to slow down and double click
00:11:20
into this. Just wait. So,
00:11:22
we work Monday through Friday.
00:11:24
Saturday,
00:11:24
I don't think a lot of people work
00:11:26
Monday through Friday anymore.
00:11:26
But I'm saying like, let's just say,
00:11:28
yeah, we used to Monday through Friday.
00:11:29
Saturday, you're slapping the kids to
00:11:31
soccer. Sunday, you get a rest day,
00:11:32
watch some football, then rinse and
00:11:33
repeat.
00:11:34
That's all a lie now.
00:11:35
That's going away.
00:11:36
No, no, no. Right now, drive times,
00:11:38
average dry times in America, 11 to 4.
00:11:42
So, people are doing their chores
00:11:44
11 to 4.
00:11:45
Do doing their stuff that they have to
00:11:46
do on the weekends in the morning or in
00:11:48
the afternoon. They have their mobile
00:11:49
phones. They're doing their stuff.
00:11:51
Thursday, hotel bookings are way up. Way
00:11:54
up. So, weekend 3-day weekends.
00:11:57
I'm shocked.
00:11:58
What?
00:12:00
Please up from back there. You should
00:12:02
start drinking coffee because if you
00:12:03
just look at the data, we're at 4 day
00:12:05
work weeks now.
00:12:07
I think it's going to three-day work
00:12:09
weeks,
00:12:10
which means more time for entertainment
00:12:11
is your key piece. Sack you wanted to
00:12:13
get in.
00:12:14
Well, I was going to spit on something
00:12:15
Chamas said, which is you you have so
00:12:17
many different things you're involved
00:12:18
in. How do you decide how to prioritize
00:12:20
your time?
00:12:21
Because you could be, I know, helping
00:12:23
William Morris clients. There's
00:12:25
representation could be a never- ending
00:12:27
job by itself. You've got TKO. You could
00:12:30
be looking for new acquisitions. How do
00:12:32
you decide how to spend your money?
00:12:33
Thank god I have ADHD. Um, listen,
00:12:36
actually this Friday is two years since
00:12:39
we um did the merger at TKO.
00:12:43
We merged at I think $100 and then went
00:12:45
down 79. Anybody says they don't look at
00:12:47
their stock price, I look at it every
00:12:48
like 19 times a day. Yesterday we hit
00:12:52
200. We're doing, I think, everything we
00:12:55
said we were going to do with regard to
00:12:57
kind of streamlining the two businesses,
00:13:00
integrating them. We brought over in
00:13:03
February uh PBR um on location and uh
00:13:08
IMG, which kind of fills out the suite
00:13:11
of what we do at TKO for everybody that
00:13:13
wants sports. We made our broadcasting
00:13:16
deals and we're just kind of powering
00:13:19
away at what that, you know, focused on
00:13:21
what we have to do. Are you personally
00:13:23
at this point just kind of out of
00:13:24
representation?
00:13:25
No, no, no.
00:13:25
Or do you dip down sometimes and and
00:13:27
help clients? How do you see that? you
00:13:29
know, being in the representation
00:13:31
business, whether it be Marty Scorsesi
00:13:33
or Dwayne Johnson or Mark Wahlberg or
00:13:36
Peterberg or a great a whole host of my
00:13:39
clients. or enables me to make the deals
00:13:43
over at TKO because I'm in the
00:13:45
conversation
00:13:46
right
00:13:46
with YouTube, Amazon, Netflix, all the
00:13:50
people I need to be in business and and
00:13:52
I do that the running of that business
00:13:56
now cuz I'm not in like you didn't call
00:13:58
this person back. I don't do that
00:14:00
anymore. But in the representation of my
00:14:02
clients and the clients of the agency,
00:14:05
I'm in it every day because it does help
00:14:07
the other businesses. Which platform are
00:14:09
you the most obsessed with? YouTube,
00:14:11
Netflix, all.
00:14:13
Okay. But which one, if you have a
00:14:15
client, do you think is the most
00:14:17
important over the next 5 or 10 years?
00:14:19
Who's going to pay them the most amount
00:14:20
of money and creatively enable them to
00:14:22
do what they want?
00:14:22
Well, let let me ask you a question.
00:14:24
This is a really important question. I
00:14:25
was going to ask this of Neil as well.
00:14:27
I've heard from a number of folks that
00:14:28
have historically done production on
00:14:30
Netflix that they want to move to
00:14:32
YouTube because Netflix like the margins
00:14:34
compressed and so they're offering
00:14:35
and deals. That's not true. Okay,
00:14:38
that's not true.
00:14:39
And so I've heard a lot of folks say,
00:14:40
"Well, if I go independent, I have
00:14:42
unlimited upside. If I publish on
00:14:44
YouTube, I just need financing." Is
00:14:47
there an emerging?
00:14:48
Listen, those are different. It depends
00:14:50
on where you're at. If it's a YouTuber,
00:14:54
right,
00:14:55
and they want to scale up
00:14:56
and they want to scale up and they have
00:14:58
x amount, they'll probably start on
00:15:00
YouTube or start on or start on at
00:15:02
Facebook or start on Twitter. Once they
00:15:05
get to a certain level, they'll make a
00:15:07
decision. Is there is can do they have a
00:15:09
product that's right for a half hour or
00:15:10
an hour on on Netflix or a feature film,
00:15:13
right?
00:15:14
That's different from what YouTube's
00:15:16
business plan is. And Neil will talk to
00:15:17
you about that. So again, you can't
00:15:21
generalize that conversation.
00:15:22
Are you seeing a burgeoning of
00:15:24
independent financing for production
00:15:26
that would go out on YouTube? Like where
00:15:28
folks are saying, I just need production
00:15:30
financing. Find me some partners. And
00:15:32
then
00:15:32
you mean for a YouTuber? for YouTubers.
00:15:34
I mean, some sometimes that's not
00:15:37
something you're seeing kind of scale up
00:15:38
right now.
00:15:38
I'm definitely not in that space. If you
00:15:40
know, David, I I that's not something I
00:15:43
I do see. There's people in my company
00:15:45
that do that. We have a whole division
00:15:47
for YouTubers, etc. Podcasting, that's a
00:15:51
whole group that we've started. It's
00:15:52
very successful right now.
00:15:53
Ari, there was a time when the dream of
00:15:56
content creators was being able to own
00:15:57
their IP. Netflix came in and said,
00:15:59
"Hey, we'll pay you much more, but you
00:16:01
don't get to own the Simpsons anymore.
00:16:03
You don't get to own this IP
00:16:06
yet."
00:16:06
Well, remember the syndication model as
00:16:09
broadcast television started to fade
00:16:11
away as this, but there was a at the
00:16:13
beginning there was a third window which
00:16:15
was Netflix. Now the cable and the
00:16:18
station group window has kind of
00:16:19
dissipated a little, right? But when you
00:16:23
still when you make a deal at a
00:16:25
broadcaster smaller now you do have a
00:16:29
bidding war between Netflix whether it
00:16:32
be if you're at NBC Peacock
00:16:35
we just finished a big we're finishing
00:16:36
up a big deal for the office which
00:16:38
started on broadcast the new stuff
00:16:40
they're buying out. Yes.
00:16:42
Yeah. So you don't have this opportunity
00:16:45
to do what you know the Simpsons did, to
00:16:47
do what South Park did, to do what
00:16:49
Seinfeld did. But you yourself deal I
00:16:52
just made for South Park's pretty good
00:16:53
for the guys.
00:16:54
No, no, I know. But that seems to be the
00:16:55
last generation to get that. This new
00:16:58
generation seems to be just giving their
00:16:59
IP over to Netflix. You yourself are
00:17:02
saying, "I want to own the IP and you're
00:17:04
choosing to buy them." So what is your
00:17:07
advice to the clients because they can't
00:17:10
become billionaires if they don't own
00:17:12
IP.
00:17:13
So there's a client I there's a client
00:17:16
by the name of Noah Holly just had the
00:17:18
Alien Earth show that it premiered on at
00:17:21
Disney. Um he did Fargo also. Incredibly
00:17:25
talented guy. I just signed him right.
00:17:29
He's going to make a new deal. Now, back
00:17:32
in the day, Greg Daniels or Larry David
00:17:34
or Aaron Sorcin or Jim Brooks clients
00:17:38
made
00:17:39
an unbelievable amount of money.
00:17:41
Jim did Jim did well.
00:17:42
All of those people I said did very,
00:17:44
very, very well.
00:17:46
Yes, he will not make as much money as
00:17:49
they did in syndication,
00:17:51
but he will do very, very, very well.
00:17:54
So, if you're really talented and you
00:17:56
have success, you will do really well.
00:17:59
And when it's when it gets reaired and
00:18:01
re and resold, he'll do very very well.
00:18:04
It's not
00:18:06
if you have a show that goes into
00:18:08
syndication and it gets $6 million an
00:18:10
episode, you can't make five $600
00:18:12
million anymore. But you can make
00:18:14
tens of millions.
00:18:15
Yeah. More than that, but you can make
00:18:16
you can do very very well.
00:18:18
You were f I mean, I'm not crying.
00:18:21
You're famous for fighting hard.
00:18:24
In fact, there was an iconic character
00:18:25
created on Entourage for that.
00:18:27
Yeah. Um, which was your favorite fight?
00:18:30
Is it Sherry AOF? Was it Justin Baldoni,
00:18:34
Mike Oitz? Which did you get the most
00:18:36
pleasure fighting with of all these
00:18:38
iconic fights?
00:18:39
You know, like I just said, all um, no.
00:18:41
I mean, listen, when when you're at the
00:18:44
beginning of your career 30 years ago
00:18:46
and you do not have the ability to
00:18:49
change price
00:18:52
and you have at the time you had William
00:18:55
Morris, ICM, UTA, CAA,
00:18:58
and you're the fifth and you you have to
00:19:02
fight really hard because people just
00:19:05
think you're a chump,
00:19:06
right?
00:19:07
And I don't Yeah. when people don't
00:19:10
think because I'm dyslexic. I remember
00:19:12
growing up anybody that thought I was
00:19:15
stupid, they touched the third rail. And
00:19:18
so when you were growing up in this
00:19:20
business and everybody thinks, "Oh,
00:19:22
you're just
00:19:23
that pushover. You got I'm I'm not I'm
00:19:25
not good there. Any chance?" No, but
00:19:27
this is a and this is a serious
00:19:28
question.
00:19:30
Bringing Entourage back. Why hasn't this
00:19:33
happened? We love this. We grew up on
00:19:35
it. How many people want to see the
00:19:37
reunion? You're the guy who can make it
00:19:39
happen. I'm friends with Adrian Grineer.
00:19:41
I talk to him all the time about it and
00:19:43
he says, "Not my choice."
00:19:44
Are you guys having David Zazoff on this
00:19:46
on this panel?
00:19:46
No. No.
00:19:47
I think you guys should call him.
00:19:49
Is he holding the strings?
00:19:50
Well, yeah. They HBO HBO.
00:19:52
But you're Ari. You could go and just
00:19:54
tell them to do it.
00:19:55
Let's Let's help that deal happen.
00:19:57
Please.
00:19:58
On competition, was Michael Oitz a a
00:20:00
mentor to you or a competitor?
00:20:02
I worked for Mike for um I was in the
00:20:05
mail room, then I was on a desk. Um he
00:20:07
was you know you he was incredible and
00:20:11
you he kind of changed the business.
00:20:13
Before him was Louman. They would be on
00:20:15
Mount Rushmore. I think Mike did a so
00:20:18
many things right. I mean he was a
00:20:20
visionary for the one thing when I was a
00:20:23
young guy looking at it and looking back
00:20:24
at it you know he started he took Coke.
00:20:28
I think it was from Gray Advertising at
00:20:29
the time. I think it was gray. And I
00:20:31
always said to myself at the time like
00:20:34
he had so much currency at the time. Why
00:20:37
didn't he buy gray advertising and he
00:20:40
could have changed the dynamic of the
00:20:41
agency? He could either take it public
00:20:43
and so that when and then I was at this
00:20:46
company called Intertalent. They got
00:20:47
bought by ICM. ICM like had the greatest
00:20:50
agents all and it just was bad
00:20:52
management.
00:20:54
And then we started the firm and I just
00:20:56
said, you know, I'm not going to have a
00:20:59
bad culture like ICM
00:21:01
and when the opportunity comes, I'm
00:21:04
going to go for assets that I could own
00:21:06
and change kind of the dynamic of what
00:21:08
an agency and what representation and
00:21:09
what
00:21:10
and that's what no one had done before
00:21:11
is think in terms of equity. Are there
00:21:13
any assets that you don't own that you
00:21:15
wish you did or or would you like to buy
00:21:17
a studio? Would you like to buy sports
00:21:18
teams? What?
00:21:18
I I don't want to buy a studio. I don't
00:21:20
want to buy a sports team.
00:21:21
Okay. I just started this company. I
00:21:23
raised about $2 billion. I'm going to
00:21:25
start this big events company. So, my
00:21:27
plate's really full. I'm loving life
00:21:29
right now. And uh yeah, I mean, TKO is
00:21:34
on it in a great place right now with
00:21:35
all the deals we made. We have a great
00:21:37
partner in um uh David Ellison and you
00:21:41
saw what happened at the VMAs where our
00:21:44
thought process, they put it on MTV,
00:21:46
they put it on CBS, and they put on
00:21:47
streaming. the largest audience they
00:21:49
ever got. That's going to be the same
00:21:51
thing for the UFC. And now Bob Iger and
00:21:54
Jimmy Potara are gonna launch um the the
00:21:57
WWE on ESPN. I think it's going to be
00:22:00
incredible for that asset.
00:22:02
So do you think that all sports there's
00:22:04
nothing left right now,
00:22:06
right?
00:22:06
We're launching, you know, we have a big
00:22:08
fight this weekend, uh the Canelo fight
00:22:10
with Netflix, so we're in good place.
00:22:13
Ari, do you think that all sports
00:22:15
continue to do well in the future? Or
00:22:16
will some sports have to adapt for, you
00:22:19
know, the fact that kids have a shorter
00:22:20
attention span? They just need faster
00:22:22
action. Like what happens to things like
00:22:24
baseball? What happens to the maybe the
00:22:26
slower, more prolonged sports?
00:22:29
You know, I I think everybody's going to
00:22:32
have to adapt. The thing I like about
00:22:33
our sport is
00:22:35
the it's like the UFC. It's fast. Bull
00:22:38
riding, 8 seconds. You know, you get it,
00:22:40
you can watch it on your phone. Um WWE
00:22:43
is family entertainment and and all of
00:22:45
them are um the both the UFC and the WWE
00:22:48
are huge global brands. I think all of
00:22:51
them except you know I had a
00:22:53
conversation with Roger Goodell
00:22:54
yesterday. I was like how many
00:22:56
storylines can you get? It was an
00:22:57
unbelievable weekend except for Monday
00:22:59
night when the Bears lost. But um I
00:23:03
think a bunch of them are going to have
00:23:04
to adapt and I think for some of them
00:23:06
pricing is going to have to come down
00:23:08
because um I don't think uh the the US
00:23:13
domestic market is the right place for
00:23:16
them as it relates to hockey and
00:23:17
baseball the big ones. Um they're do
00:23:20
they've done an incredible job adapting
00:23:22
to the kind of new environment.
00:23:23
I think baseball's cut like 40 minutes
00:23:25
off of the average.
00:23:26
It's incredible what they've done.
00:23:28
They've always been innovative. when
00:23:30
they launched BAM and they've been ahead
00:23:32
of the curve. So,
00:23:32
what do you think about international
00:23:34
markets? Obviously, India and China,
00:23:36
huge markets. The NBA has done an
00:23:37
exceptional job. They're probably going
00:23:39
to have something in Europe, the Knicks,
00:23:40
my Knicks, uh, which are going to win
00:23:42
the chip this year. They're going to be
00:23:44
playing in Abu Dhabi, their preseason
00:23:46
games.
00:23:46
How How do you view the
00:23:48
internationalization of these live
00:23:50
events?
00:23:50
I mean, just look at that Brazil game
00:23:52
for the NFL. Incredible. Look at what
00:23:54
baseball did when they launched the
00:23:56
Dodgers and the Cubs in Japan.
00:23:58
Everybody's realizing the value that can
00:24:01
happen now. We just had a UFC event in
00:24:05
Shanghai, which we have a facility in a
00:24:07
PI. Um, we're going to Abu Dhabi. We
00:24:10
we've always in ours been international.
00:24:12
It's a requirement for continued growth
00:24:15
in the sports that you have to go
00:24:17
international. So, all of them are going
00:24:19
to adapt a little bit and try and figure
00:24:20
that out.
00:24:20
I want to I want to shift and ask a
00:24:21
personal question. You come from an
00:24:23
incredible family. Your brother Zeke is
00:24:25
an incredible doctor. Your brother Rahm
00:24:26
worked at the White House, was mayor of
00:24:28
Chicago. You're incredible.
00:24:30
Ambassador to Japan now. Yeah. You're an
00:24:32
incredible entrepreneur and businessman.
00:24:34
Is there competitiveness? Has there ever
00:24:37
been competitiveness amongst the three
00:24:38
of you as you guys?
00:24:39
Why do you think one's in Chicago, one's
00:24:40
in Washington, one's in LA? The cities
00:24:42
are like when they come together like,
00:24:44
you know, like they explode. Yeah.
00:24:47
I mean, yeah.
00:24:49
Where did it come where did it? Wait,
00:24:51
but where did it come from?
00:24:52
And let me just tell you something. I'm
00:24:53
winning.
00:24:54
Where? you know, but where did it come
00:24:56
from and who did who did mom love most?
00:24:59
You know, my mom says this all the time.
00:25:02
My mom used to say, "You don't love me
00:25:04
as much as you love Zeke." And Zeke is
00:25:07
the my the doctor and the vice proess of
00:25:09
pen. And she goes turns to him and she
00:25:11
goes to all of us. She goes, "I hate you
00:25:13
all equally."
00:25:15
Ah, that's where it comes from.
00:25:18
Still trying to get mom's love. I got
00:25:19
it.
00:25:19
And what about your long-term You have a
00:25:21
long-term friendship with one of our
00:25:23
besties, Elon. Yeah.
00:25:24
Um, how did that evolve?
00:25:26
After 911, I gave up my Ferrari. I
00:25:28
bought a Prius.
00:25:30
Didn't really like the Prius. I was
00:25:32
looking for a better car. I read the
00:25:34
article that he's launching.
00:25:36
I just call him. He picks up, comes in
00:25:40
the office. I say, "I have to have one
00:25:41
of these cars. I think I got number 11.
00:25:44
I still own it." The kind of the first
00:25:46
model.
00:25:47
Yeah.
00:25:47
And he and I have just been friends
00:25:50
um ever since. I just actually on
00:25:53
Tuesday uh uh you know I went up to see
00:25:55
the robots because I want to do a UFC
00:25:59
fight with his robots and the robots
00:26:02
meaning robots versus robots.
00:26:03
Yeah. I think it'd be incredible.
00:26:05
Yes.
00:26:05
And I saw what he he's creating.
00:26:08
The man's a genius.
00:26:10
The the hand is incredible. Their
00:26:13
ability to kind of he had one he showed
00:26:15
me one that was kicking um and and
00:26:18
boxing. And when he talks about it, he
00:26:20
talks about, you know, there's probably
00:26:21
about a 100 million people in the United
00:26:24
States that actually are working bodies.
00:26:27
When you have a robot, it it occupies
00:26:30
five people,
00:26:32
works 24 hours a day. Um, and there's no
00:26:36
HR, there's no issues. He says the pro,
00:26:38
you know, he goes through the pro, he
00:26:39
goes through all the numbers, and it's a
00:26:41
it's an incredible argument, and I think
00:26:44
he'll be able to produce a million of
00:26:46
them. It's going to be really profitable
00:26:48
and they're going to cost a dollar an
00:26:50
hour to operate.
00:26:51
And when I saw what he what the hand was
00:26:53
doing, the the I think it was the third
00:26:54
or fourth generation.
00:26:56
Yeah.
00:26:57
I I was like, it's incredible. And now
00:26:59
the movement and the charging that he's
00:27:01
got down, it's really he's a special
00:27:03
human being in that in that capacity.
00:27:05
Really special.
00:27:05
He really is an American treasure.
00:27:07
Ladies and gentlemen, R Emanuel.
00:27:09
Amazing. Thanks. Great to see you.
00:27:15
Thanks. Don't crush it.
00:27:17
[Applause]
00:27:19
Wow.

Podspun Insights

In this episode, Ari Emanuel, the powerhouse behind Endeavor, takes center stage, sharing his journey from a humble start in the industry to becoming a titan of combat sports and entertainment. The conversation dives deep into the evolution of media, the chaos of content creation, and the transformative power of live events. Emanuel reflects on pivotal moments, like the merger with IMG and the acquisition of UFC, revealing the strategic thinking that fueled his success. He discusses the shifting landscape of content consumption, emphasizing the importance of ownership and the future of monetization for creators. With a dash of humor and candid insights, he navigates topics from AI's role in the industry to the competitive dynamics within his family. The episode is a rollercoaster of ideas, showcasing Emanuel's vision for the future of entertainment and the human connection that drives it all.

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 92
    Best overall
  • 90
    Most inspiring
  • 90
    Best concept / idea
  • 90
    Most influential

Episode Highlights

  • Ari Emanuel: The Kingpin of Combat Sports
    Ari Emanuel has transformed Endeavor into a multi-billion dollar powerhouse in combat sports and entertainment.
    “Emanuel has worked tirelessly to transform Endeavor into a multi-billion dollar behemoth.”
    @ 00m 24s
    November 05, 2025
  • The Evolution of Content Distribution
    Ari discusses the chaotic landscape of content distribution and the rise of independent creators.
    “There's infinite distribution, right? Many forms of content.”
    @ 04m 41s
    November 05, 2025
  • The Future of Work and Entertainment
    Ari predicts a shift to three-day work weeks, increasing demand for live entertainment.
    “I think it's going to three-day work weeks, which means more time for entertainment.”
    @ 12m 09s
    November 05, 2025
  • Bringing Entourage Back
    A passionate plea for an Entourage reunion sparks excitement among fans.
    “We love this. We grew up on it.”
    @ 19m 33s
    November 05, 2025
  • The Future of Sports
    Discussion on how sports must adapt to changing audience preferences and attention spans.
    “I think everybody's going to have to adapt.”
    @ 22m 32s
    November 05, 2025
  • Friendship with Elon Musk
    A unique friendship with Elon Musk evolves over a shared interest in innovation.
    “I think it'd be incredible.”
    @ 26m 05s
    November 05, 2025

Episode Quotes

Key Moments

  • Ari's Arrival00:29
  • Live Events Focus01:05
  • Content Evolution04:41
  • Future of Work12:09
  • Entourage Reunion19:33
  • Sports Adaptation22:32
  • Elon Musk Friendship26:05

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown