Endeavor Group Holdings, the parent company of the esteemed William Morris Agency, have taken out a $260 million load nearly a month and a half after the company laid off up to 250 employees. This loan, in addition to a $2.8 billion credit line have been used to alleviate the company’s financial strain caused by COVID-19.
According to Digital Music News Endeavor “higher-ups were forced to cut, furlough, or reduce the pay of approximately 2,500 employees,” representing nearly one-third of the company’s workforce. During the recent recent layoff announcements, Endeavor Co-CEO’s Ari Emmanuel and Patrick Whitesell stated that they would be foregoing their salary for the rest of the year.
The interest rate for this loan is slightly less than 11 percent, with Los Angeles’s Oaktree Capital Management reportedly providing the largest share of the funding. This loan helped the company’s stock raise to an even $26 per share, well-above its 52-week low of $17.51, which occurred during the beginning of the pandemic.
The company has also achieved some financial successes with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), which held UFC 249 in Jacksonville, Florida over the weekend. The company owns UFC and its pay-per-view rights, and reportedly earned over $45 million worth of revenue from this latest sporting event.
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the music industry and talent agencies hard this year, with Paradigm Talent Agency announcing that it was laying off nearly 100 employees during the middle of March. The Paradigm Talent Agency is currently facing $2 million lawsuit by a former agent for breach of contract.
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