CEO Jordan Levin will continue to lead OpenBet following this transaction closing. (Endeavor imagery)

Sports and entertainment giant Endeavor is selling its OpenBet and IMG Arena betting and data properties to a group backed by chief executive Ari Emanuel for around $450 million.

Endeavor announced the deal – a management buyout by a group operating as OB Global Holdings that also involves OpenBet executives such as CEO Jordan Levin – yesterday. Levin will continue to lead OpenBet following this transaction closing.

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The transaction has been described as a “necessary step” for Silver Lake’s privatization of Endeavor to close early in 2025. Indeed, IMG Arena and OpenBet were both put up for sale in August.

Endeavor will continue to market IMG Arena “for sale to a third-party purchaser,” both during and after the deal closes.

Financial advice to Endeavor was provided during this process by Oakvale Capital and The Raine Group.

Endeavor acquired sports betting platform OpenBet in 2022 for about $800 million and merged it with IMG Arena into one division in February this year.

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Levin said: “This management buyout allows us to continue executing our vision for increased market expansion and product innovation. Our group is extremely confident in OpenBet’s future considering the premium product offering, superior talent, and solid foundation we already have in place following a strong period of business growth.”

The Silver Lake-Endeavor deal was first announced at the start of April. Silver Lake is purchasing 100% of the shares in Endeavor (that it doesn’t already own) at $27.50 per share, in what was at the time called the “largest” private equity sponsor privatization of any business in the media and entertainment sector ever, with the share acquisition transaction boasting an equity value of $13 billion and a total enterprise value of $25 billion.

Silver Lake first invested in Endeavor in 2012, and the agency went public in 2021.

This news follows the announcement late last month that Endeavor is selling a trio of its high-profile sport and entertainment assets to its TKO Group subsidiary.

A $3.25 billion all-equity purchase sees the major sports and entertainment agency IMG, the events and hospitality firm On Location, and the bull riding touring competition Professional Bull Riders (PBR) taken under the TKO Group umbrella.

While the leadership of PBR and On Location will remain unchanged, IMG president of media Adam Kelly will step in as president of the IMG business segment.

This move, which will also close in the first half of 2025, expands TKO’s operations outside of just competition operations and into the broader sports business landscape, whilst simultaneously helping pare down Endeavor’s operations before it is set to privatize.