NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) – Several agents and executives at William Morris Endeavor (WME) are looking to make their exit after the company’s initial public offering flopped back in September, The New York Post is reporting.
According to the Post, a number of WME agents have been “flooding Hollywood with their résumés” after the yanked IPO “kept them from cashing out on stock options they’ve been accepting in exchange for smaller bonuses.”
“A lot of WME agents are now in play. We are all talking to them,” a rival agency source reportedly told the Post. “They are big agents, executives, department heads.”
Other sources reportedly told the Post that Endeavor’s CEO, Ari Emanuel, “has been pushing stock on execs and agents in lieu of cash since 2014,” the same year private equity firm Silver Lake became a majority investor in the company.
Endeavor’s agencies, William Morris Endveavor and IMG Media, currently represent a long list of A-list celebs including Oprah Winfrey, Gal Gadot and Rihanna, among others. The company also ownes the Miss Universe pageant and half of Ultimate Fighting Championship.