UTA and Patrick Whitesell's WIN Submit First-Round Bids for Wasserman Assets; WME and CAA Pass
United Talent Agency and WIN, the startup co-founded by Patrick Whitesell and ex-Endeavor exec Jason Lublin, submitted non-binding first-round bids to investment bank Moelis & Co. in the auction for assets belonging to Wasserman, now rebranded as The Team. WME Group and Creative Artists Agency both declined to bid. Whitesell has not yet secured a financial backer for WIN's overture. UTA faces a structural complication: WGA conflict-of-interest rules would likely block it from acquiring Brillstein Entertainment Partners, Wasserman's management division, due to restrictions on agency ownership of production entities. More than 20 performing artists, including Laufey, Chappell Roan, and John Summit, left the company after emails between Casey Wasserman and Ghislaine Maxwell surfaced in Epstein documents earlier this year.
THE BREAKDOWN
UTA and WIN are the only known bidders so far, and neither is a clean fit. UTA's Brillstein problem means any deal it strikes will likely involve a partial acquisition, which creates uncertainty for management clients in that division. Talent currently at The Team should be in active conversations with their reps about coverage continuity before the auction closes. WIN bidding without secured financing makes it a wildcard that could fall out of the process. Goldman Sachs' November 2025 acquisition of Excel Sports Management set a floor for what private equity will pay for representation assets, and agents watching this deal should note that the Brillstein complication is likely to become a negotiating point rather than a dealbreaker.
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