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Ariel Zev Parmar Emanuel (born March 29, 1961) is an American businessman and the CEO of Endeavor, an entertainment and
media agency Media agencies advise companies on how and where to advertise, and how to present a positive image of themselves to the public. Primary services include advertising, public relations and other forms of media management. Media agencies were first l ...
, as well as CEO and
executive chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...
of
TKO Group Holdings TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (TKO) is an American media conglomerate created by Endeavor as part of a merger between World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) and Zuffa, LLC, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Since ...
, which owns the
UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. The larg ...
and
WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...
. He was a founding partner of the
Endeavor Talent Agency The Endeavor Talent Agency was a Beverly Hills–based talent agency founded by Ari Emanuel, Rick Rosen, Tom Strickler, and David Greenblatt. It was launched in March 1995 and went on to represent a wide variety of acclaimed film and television s ...
and was instrumental in shaping its June 2009 merger with the
William Morris Agency The William Morris Agency (WMA) was a Hollywood-based talent agency. It represented some of the best-known 20th-century entertainers in film, television, and music. During its 109-year tenure it came to be regarded as the "first great talent ...
.


Early life

Born to a
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
family, Emanuel was raised in suburban
Wilmette, Illinois Wilmette is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Bordering Lake Michigan, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Skokie, Northfield, Glenview, and Evanston, Illinois, it is located north of Chicago's downtown district. Wilmette had a populatio ...
. Emanuel is the brother of former
mayor of Chicago The mayor of Chicago is the Chief executive officer, chief executive of city Government of Chicago, government in Chicago, Illinois, the List of United States cities by population, third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsib ...
, Presidential Chief of Staff and U.S. Ambassador to Japan
Rahm Emanuel Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician, advisor, diplomat, and former investment banker who most recently served as List of ambassadors of the United States to Japan, United States ambassador to Japan from 2022 ...
, American oncologist and bioethicist
Ezekiel Emanuel Ezekiel Jonathan "Zeke" Emanuel (born September 6, 1957) is an American oncologist and bioethicist. He is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. He is the current Vice Provost for Global Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania ...
, and sister Shoshana Emanuel (who was adopted). His father,
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
-born Benjamin M. Emanuel, was a pediatrician who was active in the
Irgun The Irgun (), officially the National Military Organization in the Land of Israel, often abbreviated as Etzel or IZL (), was a Zionist paramilitary organization that operated in Mandatory Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of th ...
in
Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...
. His mother, Marsha Emanuel (''née'' Smulevitz), was a
civil rights activist Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...
, and the one-time owner of a Chicago-area
rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...
club. During his third grade at school, Ari was diagnosed with
ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation that are excessive and pervasive, impairing in multiple ...
and
dyslexia Dyslexia (), previously known as word blindness, is a learning disability that affects either reading or writing. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, wri ...
. To supplement instruction at school, his mother spent many hours helping him to learn to read. She hired tutors and private instructors to give him private reading lessons at home. Emanuel attended
New Trier High School New Trier High School (, also known as New Trier Township High School or NTHS) is a public four-year high school whose main campus for sophomores through seniors is in Winnetka, Illinois, United States, with a campus in Northfield, Illinois, for ...
and graduated from
Macalester College Macalester College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate institution with an enrollment of 2,142 students in the fall of 2023. The college ha ...
in 1983.


Career

In his early career, Emanuel worked as an assistant to New York talent agent Robert Lantz and then as a trainee at
Creative Artists Agency Creative Artists Agency, LLC (CAA) is an American talent and sports agency based in Los Angeles, California. With 1,800 employees in March 2016, it is regarded as an influential company in the talent agency business and manages numerous client ...
in Hollywood. Prior to founding Endeavor, Emanuel was a partner at InterTalent and senior agent at
ICM Partners ICM Partners was a talent and literary agency with offices in Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, D.C., and London. The company represented clients in the fields of motion pictures, television, music, publishing, live performance, branded e ...
(ICM). Emanuel has served as a member of
Live Nation Entertainment Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American multinational entertainment company that was founded in 2010 following the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. It promotes, operates and manages ticket sales for live entertainment internation ...
board of directors since September 2007. Emanuel has been described as a mogul and power player in Hollywood. Emanuel and
Patrick Whitesell Patrick Whitesell (born February 4, 1965) is an American businessman and executive chairman of Endeavor, an entertainment and media agency. He joined the Endeavor Talent Agency as a partner in February 2001, where he was a member of the company ...
, the co-CEO of WME, have both been named to ''
Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fate * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (19 ...
s Businessperson of the Year list. In a May 2013 article on Emanuel, ''Fortune'' called him "one of the biggest guns in the consolidating entertainment business". Emanuel's relationships with his clients, coupled with his stature in the industry, has led to various homages and parodies over the years, including
Bob Odenkirk Robert John Odenkirk (; born October 22, 1962) is an American actor, screenwriter, comedian, and producer. He started his career as a comedian and comedy writer before expanding his career by acting in dramatic works. His List of awards and no ...
's character Stevie Grant on ''
The Larry Sanders Show ''The Larry Sanders Show'' is an American television sitcom set in the office and studio of a fictional late-night talk show. Created by Garry Shandling and Dennis Klein, the show ran for six seasons and List of The Larry Sanders Show episodes, ...
'', and Ari Gold, played by
Jeremy Piven Jeremy Samuel Piven (born July 26, 1965) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Ari Gold in the comedy series '' Entourage'', for which he won a Golden Globe Award and three consecutive Emmy Awards. He also starred in the Britis ...
on the HBO television show ''
Entourage An entourage () is an informal group or band of people who are closely associated with a (usually) famous, notorious, or otherwise notable individual. The word can also refer to: Arts and entertainment * L'entourage, French hip hop / rap collecti ...
''. In April 2002 agent Sandra Epstein and other Endeavor employees sued Ari Emanuel on allegations that a pornographic website was operated out of Endeavor's offices and that Emanuel made racist and anti-gay remarks. Emanuel disputed these accusations at the time. Emanuel settled Epstein's claims for $2.25 million. In 2011, Emanuel co-founded TheAudience with
Sean Parker Sean Parker (born December 3, 1979) is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist, most notable for co-founding the file-sharing computer service Napster, and was the first president of the social networking website Facebook. He also co-foun ...
and
Oliver Luckett William Oliver Luckett (born 1974) is an American entrepreneur. He founded Revver, DigiSynd, and theAudience, all of which have since been sold. He currently lives in Iceland, where he heads the marketing startup, EFNI. Early life and education ...
. Endeavor went public in 2021, the first Hollywood agency to do so, with Emanuel owning a stake worth around $480 million according to ''Bloomberg''. He and Patrick Whitesell are also co-CEO of
IMG img or IMG is an abbreviation for image. img or IMG may also refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics *IMG (file format), file that stores a complete and uncompressed copy of the contents of a storage device * IMG, a prefix for camera ima ...
, a global sports, events and talent management company headquartered in New York City. In 2023, Emanuel's total compensation from Endeavor was $83.9 million, up 340% from the previous year and representing a CEO-to-median worker pay ratio of 1,184-to-1 for the company, as well as making Emanuel the seventh highest paid CEO in the US that year. He debuted on the ''Bloomberg Billionaires Index'' in February 2025 with an estimated net worth of over $1 billion. In 2025, Emanuel is set to buy
Frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...
, a global art fair and publishing group, previously owned by Endeavor. The deal is valued at $200 million and is backed by a group of investors including
Apollo Global Management Apollo Global Management, Inc. is an American asset management firm that primarily invests in alternative assets. , the company had $548 billion of assets under management, including $392 billion invested in credit, including mezzanine capita ...
and
RedBird Capital Partners RedBird Capital Partners is an American investment management firm founded in 2014 in New York by Gerry Cardinale. The company has assets under management of over $10 billion as of 2022. Investments RedBird is active in several tertiary se ...
.


Public advocacy

Emanuel has hosted fundraisers for the Democratic Party. He donated $2,700 to
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
in the
2016 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 8, 2016. The Republican Party (United States), Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana Governor, Indiana governor Mike P ...
. His long-standing relationship with his former client
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
is well documented. During the
2016 Republican Party presidential primaries Presidential primaries and caucuses of the Republican Party took place within all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories between February 1 and June 7, 2016. These elections selected the 2,472 delegates that we ...
, Emanuel offered to produce a movie for Trump which was considered for the
2016 Republican National Convention The 2016 Republican National Convention, in which delegates of the United States Republican Party (United States), Republican Party chose the party's nominees for President of the United States, president and Vice President of the United Sta ...
but ultimately was not followed through on. After the disappearance of ''
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' journalist
Jamal Khashoggi Jamal Ahmad Hamza Khashoggi (13 October 1958 – 2 October 2018) was a Saudi journalist, Saudi dissidents, dissident, author, columnist for ''Middle East Eye'' and ''The Washington Post'', and a general manager and editor-in-chief of Al-Arab New ...
on October 2, 2018, and reports that the Saudi hit squad had assassinated him inside their consulate in Turkey, Emanuel called White House senior adviser and Trump son-in-law
Jared Kushner Jared Corey Kushner (born January 10, 1981) is an American businessman and investor. He is a son-in-law of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, through his marriage to Ivanka Trump and served as a senior advisor in his father-in- ...
. Emanuel tried to extricate Endeavor from a $400 million deal with the Saudi Arabian government. In October 2022, Emanuel urged several businesses to stop working with rapper
Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...
over his antisemitic comments. Emanuel voiced critical opinions of Israeli prime minister
Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...
when he was awarded the Humanitarian Prize at
Simon Wiesenthal Center The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating antisemitism, tolerance educati ...
's National Tribute Gala. Emanuel called for Netanyahu to step down during his speech, which caused a negative reaction from the audience. He also criticized protesters using the slogan "
from the river to the sea "From the river to the sea" (; ) is a political slogan that refers to the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea – an area historically known as Palestine, which was formerly British Mandatory Palestine, and which today con ...
" which he claimed was a call for
genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...
.


Philanthropy

Emanuel has in the past been active on the board of trustees of P.S. Arts, a
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
-based
nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
that works to bring art education programs to
Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
schools. He has also helped the
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's ori ...
, establish MOCAtv, a dedicated
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
art channel. In 2012, he joined the museum's
board of trustees A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...
.


Personal life

In 1996, Emanuel married girlfriend Sarah Hardwick Addington; they have three sons. The couple divorced in 2018. In May 2022, he married fashion designer Sarah Staudinger, founder of the Los Angeles label STAUD. Emanuel adopted the daughter of Shoshana, his adopted sister. He follows a strict vegan diet.


References


External links


Political blog
at ''
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...
''
After getting $60 million in equity Mati Kochavi & Ari Emanuels HEED shuts down
* Interview with Stephen Dubner on ''
Freakonomics ''Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything'' is the debut non-fiction book by University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and ''New York Times'' journalist Stephen J. Dubner. Published on April 12, 2005, by Wil ...
''
episode 544
May 31, 2023 (recording and transcript) {{DEFAULTSORT:Emanuel, Ari 1961 births 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople American people of Israeli descent American people of Moldovan-Jewish descent Businesspeople from Chicago American literary agents Living people Macalester College alumni New Trier High School alumni People from Wilmette, Illinois Philanthropists from Illinois 21st-century American Jews People with dyslexia WWE executives Jews from Illinois People with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder