Endeavor Group Holdings Sells Frieze to Ari Emanuel
137May 2, 2025
Endeavor Group Holdings has soldFriezeto entertainment honcho Ari Emanuel, its onetime CEO, ending months of speculation that it would offload the art fair operator. The terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed, but Emanuel said that he was setting up an as-yet unnamed events and experiences company that will own Frieze, which encompasses seven fairs, among them Frieze Los Angeles, EXPO Chicago, the Armory Show in New York, and Frieze Seoul. Also included in the purchase are Frieze’s digital media operation and print magazine. The Frieze leadership team, including CEO Simon Fox, will remain in place.
The sale arrives as Frieze prepares to open its2025 New York iteration, set to take place at the Shed May 7–11, with sixty-seven galleries exhibiting. Coming as the art market reckons with a global downturn, the sale to Emanuel is seen as a positive harbinger, as Endeavor, under his leadership, took a stake in Frieze nine years ago before buying it outright in 2023. Emanuelstepped downas Endeavor CEO this past March as part of a $25 billion go-private deal that resulted in Endeavor taking a new public-facing name, that of WME Group, a conglomerate of which Emanuel is currently executive chairman.
“This is a stabilizing buyer,” New York gallerist Alexander Gray, a member of the Frieze London selection committee, told the New York Times. “The model of the art fair is one that some disrupters might think is disruptable, but this is not the market climate for any disruption.”
“Frieze has always been a source of inspiration for me — both professionally and personally,” said Emanuel in a statement. “Having worked with the team for nearly a decade, I’ve seen firsthand the strength of their community and the ambition driving their mission to expand the reach and understanding of contemporary art. Frieze is well positioned for further growth and represents a strategic cornerstone in our new global events platform.”