Endeavor to Cut Pay Companywide Amid Pandemic

Endeavor is rolling out pay cuts as it deals with the economic impact of the pandemic, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

As with several other agencies that have taken similar measures, the pay reductions will proportionately increase according to base salary, from 5 to 30 percent, except for Endeavor president Mark Shapiro, who is cutting his compensation by half. The adjustments will be reflected in the next paycheck.

Salaries of less than $65,000 a year will not be reduced — this includes employees such as WME’s assistant group. The pay cuts will apply across all of Endeavor’s holdings — which include IMG, the Miss Universe Organization and Professional Bull Riders — except for UFC, which it does not wholly own.

The move is an attempt to avoid further layoffs amid the economic fallout caused by the entertainment and sports industries coming to a near-standstill as the global population must largely shelter in place to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus. On March 25, Endeavor laid off about 250 staff members whose jobs are tied to physical locations, such as groundskeepers and restaurant workers.

Like other heavily indebted media companies, Endeavor, which now employs about 7,250 people and carries more than $4.6 billion in debt, is under particular financial pressure to weather the crisis. CEO Ariel Emanuel and executive chairman Patrick Whitesell already have announced that they are forgoing the remainder of their compensation for 2020, and a planned buyback of equity shares for WME partners has been postponed indefinitely.

Other agencies making companywide pay cuts amid the pandemic include Paradigm, UTA, APA and Verve.

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