Veteran agent Harry Abrams has sold his entertainment talent and literary agency Abrams Artists Agency to longtime Abrams executives Robert Attermann and Brian Cho, as well as new partner Adam Bold.
Harry Abrams will help guide this new team through the transition and hold the title of founder and advisor.
Bold, who co-founded and invested in two other entertainment ventures under his Superbrands LLC umbrella, has taken over the role of chairman; Attermann, who previously served as COO, is now CEO; Cho, the former CFO, is now president and COO. Neal Altman is also part of the ownership group.
“Abrams Artists Agency has been built on a strong ethos that the client always comes first; I know with this transition to new ownership with Robert, Brian, and Adam at the helm, that this will continue, and the next forty years will be filled with incredible growth and opportunity. Our clients and the agents here are to be commended in helping build this company to what it is today. I know the future is bright,” said Harry Abrams in a statement.
Attermann and Brian Cho will manage the operations of the business — from both coasts — as a united and focused company.
“We are indebted to Harry for the leadership and guidance he has provided us in order to see this transition through,” said Attermann and Cho in a joint statement. “We are excited about the future of Abrams Artists Agency–with our partner, Adam Bold–and know that collectively we will help continue a legacy, as well as grow the business in a meaningful and profound way.”
“We live in a time when both opportunities and pitfalls in the entertainment industry are changing rapidly because of digital trends and disruption to the traditional media landscape. We will always be on the cutting edge of what will be most productive for our clients today, as well as whatever comes next,” said Adam Bold. “By fostering a culture of value and inclusion, we can implement ideas that will create numerous new benefits to our clients as Abrams Artists Agency becomes the benchmark for client experience in the industry.”
Bold is best known as the founder of The Mutual Fund Store, one of the nation’s largest independent investment-management companies. He sold the company in 2016 after nineteen years. In 2013 he co-founded Grandma’s House Entertainment, which develops and produces scripted and non-scripted shows across network, cable, and digital platforms. He is also partners with Paul Feig in Powderkeg, a digital company that aims to champion new voices with a commitment to female and LGBTQ creators and filmmakers of color.
Robert Attermann has been with Abrams Artists Agency for 30 years, starting in the talent department in the New York office. In 2015 he was promoted to COO, a position in which he had dual roles as co-managing director of the New York office, as well as head of the talent divisions.
Brian Cho began his career at Abrams Artists Agency nineteen years ago, as an executive in the Business Affairs department, and was named CFO and managing director of the Los Angeles office in 2015.
Buyers were represented by Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, led by partners Sid Fohrman and Linda Michaelson of the Century City Office. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Tech Giants and Billionaires Who Have Bought Up Legacy Media, From Marc Benioff to Jeff Bezos (Photos)
As Silicon Valley executives and business heavyweights have gotten richer and more influential, there's been a recent trend of these same individuals stepping into the realm of news media, often without any media or publishing experience. Their deep pocketbooks have, in some cases, salvaged struggling legacy media titans and, in other cases, complicated their fortunes further. Their ownership has also raised editorial questions and concerns for how these news organizations should be expected to cover the actions of their new owners and their flagship tech companies.
Getty Images
Jeff Bezos - The Washington Post
Among the most successful of the tech giant purchases, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos purchased The Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million in cash. Bezos has had a largely hands-on role with the Post, even offering a subscription of the newspaper to Amazon Prime users. And in 2015 the Post reported it nearly matched the readership of its rival The New York Times.
Getty Images
Marc Benioff - Time Magazine
Salesforce founder and co-CEO Marc Benioff, along with his wife Lynne Benioff, on Sept. 16 purchased Time Magazine from Meredith Corporation for $190 million in cash. Meredith earlier in the year acquired Time Inc. for $2.8 billion but shortly after announced plans to sell Time, Sports Illustrated, Fortune and Money magazines. Benioff is estimated to be worth $6.5 billion.
Getty Images
Laurene Powell Jobs - The Atlantic
In July 2018, Steve Jobs' widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, took a controlling interest in The Atlantic to be spearheaded by Powell Jobs' the Emerson Collective. Powell Jobs killed plans to launch a new magazine set to be run by Leon Wieseltier after sexual misconduct accusations surfaced about the former editor of The New Republic. But in February of 2018, The Atlantic announced a hiring spree of 100 new jobs, half of them editorial hires.
Getty Images
Chris Hughes - The New Republic
Chris Hughes, a former Facebook executive, purchased The New Republic in 2012, announcing massive changes in the magazine to transform it into a "vertically integrated digital media company." The changes led to a swarm of resignations from top editors and complaints from its former owner that the magazine was now unrecognizable by abandoning it's "liberal tradition." The magazine even briefly suspended publication in the wake of all the upheaval. But in 2016, Hughes sold The New Republic to Win McCormack, saying he "f---ed up" and underestimated the challenges.
Getty Images
Pierre Omidyar - The Intercept
eBay founder Pierre Omidyar announced in 2013 that he was the backer behind Glenn Greenwald's site The Intercept. He is also the founder of the media organization First Look Media, which launched in 2013. But in 2014, just eight months after joining First Look Media, former Rolling Stone journalist Matt Taibbi left the company, sparking a wave of other departures from journalists through early 2015.
Getty Images
Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong - The Los Angeles Times
Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a biotech billionaire and America's richest doctor, purchased the Los Angeles Times for $500 million in June 2018, twice what Jeff Bezos paid for The Washington Post. Soon-Shiong had previously invested in the Times' parent company Tronc, based out of Chicago, but made the paper's ownership local to Los Angeles for the first time since 2000. However, he then relocated the newspaper's headquarters to El Segundo.
Getty Images
1 of 7
Salesforce CEO Benioff purchased Time Magazine from Meredith Corporation Monday
As Silicon Valley executives and business heavyweights have gotten richer and more influential, there's been a recent trend of these same individuals stepping into the realm of news media, often without any media or publishing experience. Their deep pocketbooks have, in some cases, salvaged struggling legacy media titans and, in other cases, complicated their fortunes further. Their ownership has also raised editorial questions and concerns for how these news organizations should be expected to cover the actions of their new owners and their flagship tech companies.