Talent agency giant William Morris Endeavor set to acquire 49% of Droga5 in $220m+ deal

Creative agency Droga5, which has offices in New York, London and Sydney, today announced that William Morris Endeavor (WME), one of the world’s preeminent entertainment companies, will acquire a minority stake in the agency – believed to be 49% and worth in excess of $220m.

“Droga5 has always endeavored to be the most influential creative agency in the business, with ideas that move our clients and our industry forward,” said David Droga (left), the Aussie founder and creative chairman of Droga5.

“This partnership will exponentially accelerate our ability to realize that ambition.”

This investment will grant Droga5 unique access to WME’s unrivaled resources and relationships across the global entertainment industry, as well as its growing portfolio of assets in the technology, media and marketing sectors.

“WME continually seeks partners who will provide our clients with unparalleled access and resources,” said WME co-CEOs Patrick Whitesell and Ariel Emanuel. “Droga5 is best-in-class across the board-from its management to its creative output. Through this investment, we will be able to join the best artists and storytellers from all verticals, and we look forward to creating new opportunities for our collective clients.”

WME, headquartered in Beverly Hills with offices in New York, London, Nashville and Miami, has an unparalleled global client base, representing many of the world’s most prominent artists, performers and content creators. In recent years, WME, backed by Silicon Valley private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, has made strategic investments in companies across the digital media landscape, including the interactive advertising, social media, social gaming and online retail sectors.

Founded in New York in 2006, Droga5’s clients include The Coca-Cola Company, American Express, Mondelez International, Motorola, Prudential, PUMA, Spotify and UNICEF. In 2013, Droga5 was named one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company, and was also Adweek’s 2012 U.S. Agency of the Year, Creativity’s U.S. Agency of the Year in both 2007 and 2011 and an Advertising Age A-List Agency for the past three years in a row.

In 2012, Droga5 launched DE-DE, a standalone product development studio that blends the best of software (engineering, design, data) and the best of storytelling (narrative, branding, distribution) to build expertly crafted platforms and businesses. DE-DE’s first product, Thunderclap, won an inaugural Innovation Lion at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and was deemed “the future of social empowerment” by Forbes.

The management of Droga5’s agency operations will not change. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Droga5 was advised by Kirkland & Ellis LLP in the U.S. and Clayton Utz in Australia.

WME was advised by Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in the U.S. and Corrs Chamber Westgarth in Australia.

Droga5 is an independent creative and strategic agency headquartered in New York with offices in London and Sydney. Founded in 2006, Droga5 now counts as its clients Prudential, American Express, The Coca-Cola Company, Motorola, Mondelez International, Telstra, Spotify, PUMA, Kraft Foods Group, Woolworths, Hennessy, Unilever, Qantas and the United Nations, among others.

WME represents elite artists from all facets of the industry, including motion pictures, television, music, theatre, publishing and physical production. WME also advises some of the world’s most recognized consumer brands to create entertainment-based marketing solutions and invests in companies across the digital media landscape. Silver Lake Partners, the global leader in technology investing, launched a strategic partnership and made a significant investment in WME in 2012. WME is headquartered in Beverly Hills with offices in New York, London, Nashville and Miami.