BEAR vs. GOAT
Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Getty Images (Kenneth Richmond, Ian West/PA Images)
Broadway tickets: $130. Lakers tickets: $702. Buying one of the biggest Broadway and West End landlords or the whole damn Los Angeles Lakers: priceless billions and billions of dollars. Some of Hollywood’s foremost hoarders of obscene wealth went on shopping sprees this week, snapping up cultural institutions as though they were Pokémon trading cards. On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Ari Emanuel–owned Mari Group has made a deal to buy ATG Entertainment for $6 billion. ATG owns and manages dozens of theaters worldwide, including ten West End venues and seven Broadway venues housing shows like Titaníque, The Book of Mormon, Hadestown, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and the upcoming Paddington. Emanuel, who is best known as a Hollywood mogul and CEO of WME, is also the CEO of UFC and WWE. On the surface, Broadway musicals don’t have too much in common with mixed martial arts, but Emanuel calls the acquisition “a long-term bet on where live goes next.”
If you thought that was steep, former Disney CEO Bob Iger and Josh “Jared’s brother” Kushner have gone in together on a deal that makes Emanuel’s ATG acquisition look like a Shein haul. Variety confirmed today that the duo is buying the L.A. Lakers for $12.5 billion. “Our long-term commitment is to build on that foundation, compete at the highest level, and serve this extraordinary team, its fans, and the city of Los Angeles,” the duo said in a joint statement. Karlie Kloss has yet to comment on her husband’s midlife crisis splurge.
Yesterday, the BBC reported that a Jeff Bezos–affiliated consortium is looking to buy a 30 percent stake in Liverpool FC, which, by rule of three, makes these big billionaire buyouts a trend and Rob McElhenney a trendsetter.
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