Alexis Ohanian is part of an investor group that is among several suitors reportedly launching bid for a stake in Casey Wasserman’s talent agency.
The powerhouse entertainment and sports company, rebranded as The Team, could fully be up for sale or at least Wasserman the portion that Wasserman still owns could change hands, according to an article in The New York Times on Saturday.
Wasserman, 51, announced in February that he would sell his 40 percent stake of his namesake agency that he started more than two decades ago after government files revealed that he had relationships with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Rhode Island-based Providence Equity Partners, which owns 60 percent of the business, revealed that agency would be rebranded as company insider Mike Watts was named as the interim chief.
But a presentation of the bidders for the agency is approaching a “crucial deadline” and Ohanian’s group is among a number of serious investors hoping to purchase a portion or the entire company, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on a condition of anonymity.
The list of suitors is a deep group of industry insiders, major players in entertainment and rival agencies like United Talent Agency. Private equity firms Bruin Capital, Permira and Arctos are also said to be in the running along with former Endeavor chairman Patrick Whitesell, co-founder of software company Avail, Chris Gilibert and the group with Ohanian, among others.
Through his 776 Fund Management, Ohanian, 42, has invested in numerous startups at the early stage, but also entered the sports world through the technology-focused golf league TGL, the soccer team Angel City FC of the NWSL and Chelsea FC Women of the Women’s Super League, LOVB Los Angeles volleyball team and Athlos, the women-only track and field venture that debuted in 2024. Athlos is set to debut its league with a team format this year.
A stake in The Team would push Ohanian — and his investment group — even closer to some of sports and entertainment’s biggest talents. The agency’s existing roster includes Coldplay, Kendrick Lamar, Ed Sheeran, Pharrell, Lorde, Brad Pitt and Imagine Dragons, with a range of sports stars like Klay Thompson, Giancarlo Stanton, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Paige Bueckers and Rickie Fowler.
Any group interested in pursuing a bid must submit a formal request by Monday and while a deal would be expected to close by the end of the year, Wasserman would still be heavily involved in the sale process.
Wasserman is also the chairman of LA28, the organizing committee that is deep into the planning stages for the upcoming Los Angeles Olympics. He has faced numerous calls to step down from the role after the government’s files on Epstein showed that Wasserman traveled on a private jet on a humanitarian trip to Africa in 2022. The plane was owned by Epstein, who was faced numerous sexual misconduct accusations and faces sex trafficking charges when he killed himself in a New York detention center in 2019.
The files also showed that Wasserman shared several sexually suggestive emails with Maxwell in 2023. Maxwell is currently serving a prison sentence in connection with helping Epstein engage in sex crimes.
But officials linked closely with the LA28 effort have stood behind Wasserman even as L.A. mayor Karen Bass called for him to resign his post in February.
The LA28 board said that it’s own investigation showed that any information about Wasserman was already disclosed in the government’s files and he was cleared to continue to lead the build up to the Olympics. And LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover also pledged a vote of confidence that Wasserman was the right person to ensure that every aspect of the Games would be a success.
