Endeavor has returned its $400 million investment from the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund.
Last year, the government-created fund was set to take a five to 10 percent stake in the rapidly diversifying media company, which originated via talent agency WME, but the Oct. 2 death of Saudi Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi cast a pall over the kingdom’s dealmaking in Hollywood. Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, and according to intelligence officials he was brutally murdered and dismembered at the direction of the Saudi government.
The Hollywood Reporter on Oct. 15 exclusively reported that Endeavor, amid outcry and pressure to divest from all Saudi ties, had begun the process of terminating its deal. The $400 million was ultimately returned in recent weeks.
The New York Times first reported the story.
