UTA and Media Link

UTA vs. Media Link’s Michael Kassan. A major Hollywood legal battle has resulted in a settlement.

No terms were disclosed, but the lawsuit gave us an inside look into UTA’s dealings:

UTA, valued at $2.5bn, to compete with CAA (value: $7 bn) and Endeavor (value: $11 bn), bought MediaLink for $125 M back in 2021. The goal was to leverage Media Link’s ability to facilitate brand and celebrity partnerships. This would have amplified UTA’s brand division, which has 40 executives, and recently helped crystallize GM’s and Netflix’s partnership during a Super Bowl commercial that featured Will Ferrell, Bridgerton, and Squid Game.

Here’s what went awry, according to Kassan, who was fired/left on his own accord on March 7th and is suing for $25 M.

Kassan's lawyer stated:

“After two long years of Kassan battling, [UTA CEO] Zimmer’s repeated broken promises, and UTA and MediaLink’s long line of employees complaining about Zimmer, Kassan had enough and submitted his resignation.”

Those "broken promises" resulted in being forced to raise fees on existing clients and being isolated from the rest of the business.

What gives Kassan’s claim credibility is that he is waiving his contractually obligated severance pay of $10M to sue.

UTA is claiming:

“Michael Kassan has run rampant with his business expense accounts – wasting millions of UTA’s dollars on his lavish personal lifestyle…. In 2023, Kassan went so far as to use nearly $500,000 in company funds to pay off his personal credit card debt, despite multiple warnings from MediaLink’s top finance executive. In 2022, Kassan had over $700,000 in company funds wired to his personal S-Corporation. In short, Kassan erased any line between his personal and business expenses.”

Might have been bad behavior on both sides. But we’ll never know.