👔 Deal Deep Dive: Inside Silver Lake's $25 Billion Bet

Hi there,

In early 2025, Silver Lake closed its $25 billion acquisition of Endeavor Group Holdings at $27.50 per share, consolidating core assets such as UFC and WWE under private ownership. Here’s a clear run-through of the deal, the main business units, and what changed inside Endeavor after closing.

In addition, I am also sharing a very detailed Private Equity Compensation Report published by Buyside Hub that you can access here.

Let’s dive in.

Report of the Day: Private Equity Guide

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💰 Deal Overview

🔎 Business Overview

Endeavor Group Holdings (“Endeavor”) started as a talent agency in 1995, eventually merging with William Morris in 2009, and expanding into sports and media. It rebranded to Endeavor in 2017, acquired UFC, and went public in 2021. Today, it holds a majority stake in TKO Group, the parent of UFC and WWE.

In a nutshell, Endeavor’s revenues come from three main segments:

Owned Sports Properties

The main source of revenue. Through its majority stake in TKO, Endeavor controls UFC and WWE, two of the most valuable sports entertainment franchises globally. It also owns smaller assets such as a professional bull riding organization.

Economics: media rights, live event tickets, and sponsorships drive margins. Athlete payouts and production costs are modest relative to revenue, so operating leverage is strong.

Growth drivers: multi-year media deals with step-ups, more events in new markets, and broader sponsorships. This sets a steady base with upside from international partners.

Events, Experiences & Rights

Anchored by IMG’s global events (e.g. Fashion Weeks) and sports properties. On Location sells premium hospitality for events like the Super Bowl and Olympics.

This segment is more capital-intensive, with pass-through costs for venues, labor, and logistics. Margins are thinner and earnings swing with the event calendar.

Representation (WME)

WME is a top agency across film, TV, music, sports, and digital creators (e.g. Dwayne Johnson (The Rock), Serena Williams). It also manages brand partnerships, licensing, and content development.

Economics: WME typically earns 10–15% commissions on client earnings. Revenues are recurring and relationship-driven, but growth is constrained by the number and success of signed talent. Unlike owned IP such as UFC, WME doesn’t capture the full economics of media rights or sponsorships, so scalability is limited.

Positioning: WME sits between talent and distribution and can cross-sell into Endeavor’s events and production.

👔 Who is Silver Lake?

Silver Lake is a top-tier global technology investment firm (AUM ~$105 billion), known for large strategic investments in tech, media, and sports. As a private equity sponsor, Silver Lake has a history of partnerships rather than hostile takeovers, with investments in growth-oriented deals, often keeping management in place.

Notable deals include the 2013 Dell take-private (with Michael Dell), stakes in Alibaba, Airbnb, and sports ventures (it owns portions of City Football Group, the parent of Manchester City FC, and New Zealand Rugby’s All Blacks).

Silver Lake benefits from a relatively low cost of capital for private equity due to strong fund track record and deep co-investor support from sovereign wealth funds such as Mubadala (a long-time LP and partner).

This allowed the firm to take a longer-term view: it first invested in Endeavor in 2012 and reinforced its position with six follow-on investments. It never sold, reflecting its conviction in the enduring value of the brands and the upside potential ahead of the buyout.

 📚 A little bit of history…

Endeavor’s journey as a public company began with its transformation from a major entertainment agency to a global sports and media conglomerate. The Group has roots in the 2009 merger of William Morris Agency and Endeavor, forming WME, which quickly established itself as a leader in talent representation.

Over the following decade, management supported by Silver Lake executed a series of strategic acquisitions, including IMG and UFC (acquired in 2016), gradually building Endeavor into a diversified business.

In April 2021, Endeavor listed on Nasdaq at $24 per share, raising just over $500 million alongside a larger private placement. The IPO partly aimed to increase its UFC stake, which later folded into the creation of TKO Group via the UFC-WWE merger.

From Market Discount to Buyout

Endeavor’s shares - which traded above $30 shortly after its 2021 IPO - had fallen below $18 by late 2023. The decline reflected a mix of pressures: the Hollywood strikes reportedly costing the business $25 million a month, higher interest rates on its $5 billion debt load, and investors growing skeptical of profitability outside UFC.

This unstable environment created the opening for Silver Lake. As Endeavor’s decade long shareholder, Silver Lake was best positioned to act when the market discounted the stock. In October 2023, Endeavor announced a strategic review, and Silver Lake quickly confirmed it was pursuing a buyout.

As expected, the shares surged on the news and, in April 2024, Silver Lake agreed to take Endeavor private at $27.50 per share - a 55% premium to the unaffected price - and eventually closing the deal in March 2025.

📅 So, what’s the plan here?

Silver Lake's move to take Endeavor private is likely less a traditional buyout and more a strategic play. From a high level, and looking at Silver Lake’s own transaction decks, my read is that the Endeavor buyout around four levers.

1. Maximize TKO as the Growth Engine

Rationale: TKO was Endeavor’s most profitable segment with steady revenue from media rights, events, and sponsorships. Silver Lake’s likely bet was that private ownership would enable stronger rights deals, more events, and greater leverage on live sports demand.

Supporting Data Points:

• At the time of the transaction, UFC’s ESPN deal (~$300M/year) was still up for renewal. Past cycles had shown rights fees roughly doubling since 2016, hence a substantial uplift was likely assumed.

• That assumption has since materialized: in August 2025, UFC signed a 7-year, $7.7 billion deal with Paramount (~$1.1B annually), more than 3× the prior ESPN contract.

• WWE’s track record pointed the same way: SmackDown’s rights previously rose ~1.7× (~$205M/year).

• In January 2024, Netflix confirmed the trend with a $5 billion deal for Raw (~$500M/year) starting in 2025.

2. Reposition WME as a Stable Cash Generator

Rationale: WME’s Representation segment earns around 10% commissions on client contracts, with low capex and strong cash conversion. In a private context, it can reliably fund debt service and operations without needing to chase high-growth optics.

Supporting Data Points:

• Business model: steady commissions across film, TV, music, and sports; main costs are agent salaries and office leases.

• 2023 strike impacts reduced deals, but recovery projected; actual Q4 2024 revenue hit $501.6M.

• Low client churn due to enduring relationships with top talent.

3. Streamline the Portfolio Through Divestitures

Rationale: The Events, Experiences & Rights segment weighed on valuations with thin or negative margins and exposure to event cycles. Silver Lake’s likely approach was to keep predictable contracts and exit weaker assets, reducing volatility while freeing cash for balance sheet repair and reinvestment.

Supporting Data Points:

• October 2023: strategic review flagged potential sales of PBR, On Location, and IMG events (e.g. fashion weeks, tournaments).

• October 2024: TKO agreed to acquire PBR, On Location, and part of IMG in a $3.25B all-equity deal.

• Further divestitures included OpenBet and IMG ARENA, alongside reviews of the Miami Open, Madrid Open, and Frieze.

4. Pursue Strategic M&A and International Expansion

Rationale: Backed by co-investors such as Mubadala, Silver Lake likely saw room for bolt-on acquisitions and international expansion. The aim was probably to grow high-margin assets by leveraging Endeavor’s deal-making record and global demand for premium content.

Supporting Data Points:

• Strong track record with over 20 acquisitions since 2009, including UFC ($4B in 2016) and the WWE merger into TKO (2023).

• While no major deals were set in early 2024, Silver Lake was likely eyeing niches like sports agencies and data services; by 2025, TKO had integrated IMG assets and guided revenue to $4.6–$4.7B.

• More recently, UFC expanded in Asia by securing long-term Middle East events, while global media and entertainment spending is projected to top $3.5 trillion by 2029.

That’s it for today!

Feel free to let me know what you’d like to see next: investor profiles, deal deep dives, or outlooks on recent PE trends. Always open to ideas.

Until next time,
PE Bro

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P.P.S. Want to read the real Endeavor–Silver Lake deal decks? Access them below:

🔗 Deck 1
🔗 Deck 2
🔗 Deck 3
🔗 Deck 4

📚 I also pulled together 400 real M&A transaction decks you can learn from — you can access them here.

Disclaimer: This overview is based on publicly available sources and represents my personal view only. While accuracy is a priority, not all details are independently verified. This is not an official statement from Endeavor Group Holdings, Silver Lake, Centerview Partners or any other party involved in this transaction.