Authentic Brands Group
Authentic Brands Group LLC (ABG) is an American brand management company headquartered in New York City. Its holdings include various apparel, athletics, and entertainment brands, for which it partners with other companies to license and merchandise. ABG owns more than 50 consumer brands, as well as the likeness rights or estates of celebrities, including Muhammad Ali, Elvis Presley, and Marilyn Monroe. Authentic Brands Group has had recent discrimination lawsuits filed against the company by former employees. History. The company was founded in 2010 by Jamie Salter, after he stepped down from his role as CEO of Hilco  Consumer Capital—a company that was involved in the restructuring of struggling consumer brands (such as Bombay Company and Polaroid Corporation). Salter invested US$250 million in the new venture, and the majority of the equity was sold to Leonard Green & Partners. Two of ABG's first major purchases were the clothing brands Silver Star and Tapout. In January 2011, Authentic Brands Group acquired rights to the likeness of Marilyn Monroe. On October 7, 2013, Authentic Brands Group announced the purchase of Juicy Couture from Fifth & Pacific for US$195 million. The following month, ABG acquired the estate of Muhammad  Ali, and CORE Media Group's 85% stake in Elvis Presley Enterprises (which includes the estate of Elvis Presley, likeness rights, and music publishing assets). In December 2015, basketball player Shaquille O'Neal signed with ABG to manage his likeness and marketing rights. In September 2016, Julius Erving also sold his name and licensing rights to ABG, and Aéropostale was purchased out of bankruptcy by a consortium that included ABG and other investors. In March 2017, ABG became the controlling partner of Greg Norman's consumer products business. In March 2018, ABG announced that they would acquire Nautica from VF Corporation . On June 10, 2018, ABG announced that it was the winning bidder for the intellectual property of Nine West Holdings. The acquisition was completed on July 3, 2018. On October 10, 2018, ABG announced that it had entered into an agreement to purchase a majority stake in the intellectual property of the Camuto Group's proprietary brands in partnership with DSW Inc. On May 27, 2019, ABG announced its acquisition of sports magazine Sports Illustrated from Meredith Corporation for US$110 million. The company stated it planned to leverage its trademarks and other non-core assets in new ventures. Meredith  will continue to publish the "Sports Illustrated" magazine and digital properties under license for at least two years. On June 18, 2019, it was announced that rights to publish the "Sports Illustrated" editorial operations would be licensed to The Maven under a 10-year deal, with Ross Levinsohn as CEO. In August 2019, BlackRock became the largest shareholder in Authentic Brands. In May 2020, Authentic Brands Group and David Glasser’s 101 Studios formed a joint venture, Sports Illustrated Studios, for feature film and television projects. The joint venture would have a slate of several TV series and films per  year. The first announced project was the "Covers" two-hour docuseries based on the magazine's cover stories. On August 12, 2020, it was announced that Brooks Brothers was sold to Authentic Brands Group and Simon Property Group, the biggest mall operator in the United States. The new owners committed to continue to operate at least 125 Brooks Brothers retail locations, worldwide (down from 424 global locations before the COVID-19 pandemic). On June 23, 2021, it was announced that ABG would acquire the Izod, Van Heusen, Arrow, and Geoffrey Beene brands from PVH. On July 6, 2021, Authentic Brands Group  filed for an estimated US$1.5 billion initial public offering. On August 12, 2021, it was announced that Authentic Brands Group would be acquiring the sports clothing brand Reebok from Adidas for at least US$2.5 billion, in a deal expected to close in the first quarter of 2022. Private equity companies CVC Capital Partners and HPS Investment Partners invested $3.5 billion in Authentic in a deal that closed in November 2021. Authentic Brands Group announced they would delay the IPO until 2023 or 2024.