initial public offerings (IPOs) trading on American exchanges

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Endeavor Group (EDR) withdraws IPO

Global entertainment, sports and content company Endeavor Group (EDR) has pulled its initial public offering, The Wall Street Journal reports.
  • It was expected to start trading on Friday, Sept 27.
  • The company was already seeing weak investor demand that would have led to pricing below its expected range, and the roadshow wasn't well received, according to reports.
  • It had scaled back to 15M shares on offer, from a planned 19.4M, and it cut its targeted range to $26-$27/share from a previous $30-$32/share.
The company, Hollywood’s biggest talent agency owner, was hoping to raise more than $600 million. It’s the latest black eye for the IPO market, as investors see companies as overpriced. Peloton Interactive had a disappointing debut earlier Thursday, following the disappointing debuts of Lyft and Uber earlier this year and the WeWork cataclysm of the past month.

The difficult market environment for such high profile IPOs was seen as a negative for the broader market.
Ari Emanuel, Co-CEO, William Morris Endeavor, (L) Patrick Whitesell, Co-CEO, William Morris Endeavor and David Droga, Founder and Creative Chairman, Droga5 pose for photos at the headquarters of William Morris Endeavor in Beverly Hills, CA.


An IPO has been rumored since Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell merged their talent agency with sports and modelling agency IMG in 2013. Since then, Endeavor has acquired the Ultimate Fighting Championship, professional bull riders, the Frieze Art Fair and marketing agency 160over90.

Emanuel is a brother of former Chicago Mayor and Obama aide Rahm Emanuel.

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