Why is a talent agency buying pro wrestling? Plus a green media startup

Channels with Peter Kafka

Vox Media Podcast Network

Business News, News, Tv & Film, Technology

4.4 • 585 Ratings

🗓️ 6 April 2023

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Endeavor started out as a traditional Hollywood talent agency - CEO Ari Emanuel, famously, was the model for Jeremy Piven’s character on “Entourage.” But suddenly, it’s become a giant media company focused on real and fake fighting, by merging its UFC business - featuring people who are really fighting each other - with the WWE - the one where the fights are scripted. Journalist Ariel Helwani, who knows both worlds very well, joins Vox’s Peter Kafka to explain the deal and what it means for the TV and streaming landscape. Then Dave Finocchio, who co-founded the sports site Bleacher Report and kept running it after it was acquired by Time Warner, joins to discuss his newest media company: The Cool Down. It’s aimed at consumers who want to be greener, save money or both. Finocchio started his last company by figuring out how to capitalize on search and social media, but those worlds changed dramatically in the last few years. So what’s his new game plan? Featuring: Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani), Host of The MMA Hour Dve Finocchio (@DaveFinocchio), Founder of The Cool Down Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode More to explore: Subscribe for free to Recode Media, Peter Kafka, one of the media industry's most acclaimed reporters, talks to business titans, journalists, comedians, and more to get their take on today's media landscape. About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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1:00.7	this is recode media with peter kofka that is me and i have not been indicted on felony charges this week.
1:12.8	But I did have two chats with interesting, smart, thoughtful people in the media business,
1:16.2	because that's what we do here. First, I talked to Ariel Hawani, who is the king of all mixed
1:20.9	martial arts reporters. He also happens to be why a Fox media colleague. I had him on to explain
1:26.4	why Ari Emanuel, who's a Hollywood super agent,
1:28.9	is now running a fighting and fake fighting empire. A few years ago, Emmanuel's endeavor group spent
1:34.3	billions buying the ultimate fighting championship, and now it's spending billions more,
1:39.3	kind of, to buy world wrestling entertainment. This is a big deal. It's kind of a confusing deal.
1:44.9	And I think it says a bunch about the state of TV and streaming in sports right now today in
1:49.0	2023. So we talked about all of that. And then, speaking of sports, I talked to Dave Finocchio,
1:55.4	who broke into sports media by co-founding Bleacher Report when he was in college. And he had a
2:00.7	really successful run
2:01.5	there. He sold the company, stayed on with the company, once it been bought by what was then called
2:06.3	Time Warner. And now he's got a new company. It's called The Cool Down. It's got nothing to do with
	...

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