UTA Purchases Strategic Advisory Firm MediaLink For $125 Million

UTA has acquired MediaLink, an eighteen-year-old strategic advisory firm founded by industry veteran Michael Kassan (pictured above).

As part of the deal, Kassan will join UTA as partner and continue to serve as MediaLink’s chief executive. UTA acquired MediaLink from U.K.-based Ascential — the company behind the long-running Cannes Lions marketing conference — for $125 million in cash, The Wall Street Journal reports.

MediaLink advises entertainment, technology, and finance companies in realms like marketing, data and technology solutions, agency reviews, private equity, and executive search and talent development. Clients, per the Journal, include AT&T, Unilever, and NBCUniversal. The company posted revenues of $44.2 million last year, and $32 million for the first half of 2021.

MediaLink will continue to operate out of its offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and London, with none of its 150 employees expected to lose their jobs following the acquisition.

UTA operates a marketing and consulting division of its own, UTA Marketing, which advises brands on entertainment strategies and creator relationships. UTA Marketing will subsequently become a division of MediaLink called UTA Entertainment & Culture Marketing, led by David Anderson and Julian Jacobs.

“We have watched Michael Kassan steadfastly build his company over the years,” UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer said in a statement. “What seemed at first to be an amazing one-man band has become a first-class, global consulting firm with powerful colleagues, deep expertise, and unparalleled relationships.”

In terms of its other moves in the digital space, UTA announced plans earlier this month to launch an SPAC with its sights set squarely on the gaming industry.