New York-based Guava has hired 3D animator Steve Talkowski as its director of animation. Talkowski brings over a decade of experience as an animator to Guava, most recently with New York’s Hornet, where he also served as animation director…Absolute Post Production in London reported that Chris Allen–previously senior producer at London’s Moving Picture Company–will join Absolute in January as executive producer…. New York-based design/post boutique Perception has added Curt Neumann as art director. Neumann joins Perception after having worked with the company as a freelance designer for the past year on projects for Bravo!, AMC, ABC Sports and ESPN….Burbank-based post house FotoKem has signed an agreement with Sohonet, the London-based provider of private network services for film and television, to establish a Point of Presence (POP) on FotoKem’s Burbank campus. Sohonet’s dedicated high-speed network will allow the rapid exchange of media data between FotoKem and major production centers worldwide. Sohonet maintains a high bandwidth transoceanic connection between the London Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) and points in Rome, New York, Los Angeles, Sydney and Wellington, NZ. The network provides scaleable bandwidth, currently up to one Gigabit/sec, for the transfer of digital media of all types such as film dailies, visual effects files, audio, uncompressed 2k or 4k files or any digital media. Sohonet currently provides point-to-point connections to more than 150 clients worldwide, including London’s Shepperton and Pinewood studios.
Endeavor Group Sells Professional Bull Riders, On Location and IMG To Parent of WWE and UFC
The parent company of WWE and UFC is buying Professional Bull Riders, On Location, and IMG from Endeavor Group in an all-stock deal valued at $3.25 billion.
The deal is part of Endeavor's efforts to shed some of its assets as it looks to be taken private in a proposed transaction with private equity firm Silver Lake, which was announced in April. Ariel Emanuel, who serves as CEO of Endeavor, is also executive chair and CEO of TKO.
Professional Bull Riders is a bull riding league that has more than 200 annual live events, approximately 1.25 million fans, and reaches more than 285 million households in more than 65 territories. On Location is live event company for more than 1,200 sporting events, such as the Super Bowl, Ryder Cup and NCAA Final Four. IMG is a distributor and producer of sports content, packages and sells media rights and brand partnerships, and provides consulting, digital services and event management to clients such as the National Football League and National Hockey League.
Parent company TKO Group said Thursday that the acquisition from Endeavor Group will complement its existing businesses as well as broaden its reach in the premium sports market.
"PBR, On Location, and IMG are industry-leading assets that meaningfully enhance TKO's portfolio and strengthen our position in premium sports globally," TKO Chief Operating Officer Mark Shapiro said in a statement. "Within TKO, they will help power the growth of our revenue streams and position us to capture even more upside from some of the most attractive parts of our sports ecosystem: media rights, live events, ticket sales, premium experiences, brand partnerships, and site fees."
As part of the deal, Endeavor will receive about 26.14 million common units of TKO... Read More