Ari Emanuel - The Anti-AI Bet

“Egon says, we're going to make it so they can't say no and they can't go back because they don't want us. The closest bidder was Chernin at $1.9 billion. We paid $2.4 billion. Everybody thought it was the highest price ever paid. Why don't we pay 2.1? He goes, we're going to make it so they can't say no. And he was 100% right. Paid 2.4, we get it.”— Ari Emanuel

Strategy & Decision Making · Business & Entrepreneurship

DUR_ENDURING

Overpay to remove seller optionality and prevent reversal

“We buy UFC. People think we're crazy. We paid 20 times current trajectory on the current domestic deal. If I made the proper domestic deal, I could take the leverage down. I just did the math. Here's how much they need it, because of here's how much programming. Fox owned these RSNs, the regional players, and they just spokes off the library. When I said they have to pay, here's a normal increase. Cut to, we buy it. Then the world blows up. Rupert decides to sell to Disney.”— Ari Emanuel

Strategy & Decision Making · Economics & Markets · Leadership & Management

DUR_ENDURING

Early decision locked trajectory; market consolidation killed buyers

“When I started, I represented the UFC. We had a whole division inside the company looking at ratings. They came and showed me, here's this thing on Spike and here's the numbers. I realized, wow, this thing's ratings are starting to move. I figured out it wasn't enough money based on their ratings and what they were getting as a license fee. I knew if I got my hands on it, I could do some stuff with it. The first deal I made at Spike, I increased it from $15 million a year to $75 million.”— Ari Emanuel

Business & Entrepreneurship · Economics & Markets · Strategy & Decision Making

DUR_ENDURING

Ratings data revealed 5x pricing gap on license fees

“As AI makes digital content cheaper and everyday work more automated, value will increasingly concentrate in live and physical experiences. Netherlands just said 4-day work weeks. Drive times now are 11 to 4 across America. Hotel bookings Thursdays way up. The weekend starts Thursday now and we're 2025, maybe 2027, they start Wednesday. So we're social animals. What are you going to do? You're going to watch a lot of content. There's going to be more content than ever, cost zero.”— Ari Emanuel

Strategy & Decision Making · Economics & Markets · Culture & Society

DUR_CONTEXTUAL

AI makes content free; scarcity shifts to live experiences

“COVID happens, world shuts down. Dana goes, we're putting the fights on. I said, I got your back. He goes, get me an island. I call my partners in the Middle East, in Abu Dhabi, and Khaldoon, who owns Man City. And I said, we need an island and we need planes and we need testing. Everything. Because there's not going to be an audience. And he says, yes. So we bring fighters in from Europe, from the United States, we test, everybody's isolated for 2 weeks.”— Ari Emanuel

Operations & Execution · Strategy & Decision Making · Leadership & Management

DUR_ENDURING

Monopoly on live sports during shutdown; million views

“What makes a great live event? There has to be a specific audience. In art, there's a very specific audience. There's a culture around art. It's global. There's really good conversation about it. Cars, antique cars, another one of my businesses, very specific. Sports, UFC, bull riding, WWE, very specific. Taste, food festivals. So I'm in the areas that I know there's great cultural stickiness. Affinity. It's global. So one of the things we know, why did we do Frieze? It was only in two places.”— Ari Emanuel

Business & Entrepreneurship · Strategy & Decision Making · Culture & Society

DUR_ENDURING

Specific audience, global affinity, cultural stickiness, site fees

“You know why people call me back, Robbie, you say in this Austrian accent? Because I represent Milos Forman, who did Amadeus, and I represent Peter Shaffer. I represent Al Pacino. They'll call you back. So having a great client meant you had access. So you had to have taste and you had to get great clients. And once you did that and they continued to grow, you became more and more powerful. So that's what I did.”— Ari Emanuel

Business & Entrepreneurship · Strategy & Decision Making

DUR_ENDURING

Great clients create access; access attracts more great clients

“When you're dyslexic and people are making fun of you, just power through. You can't be embarrassed. There's nothing more embarrassing when you're 13 years old. They put me in special ed. Well, it wasn't remedial. It was worse than that. And you're in school and you know you're not stupid. I was in special ed. Well, there can't be more embarrassing than that. So anything now, I don't give a shit. You can't embarrass me. And it was actually that simple.”— Ari Emanuel

Psychology & Behavior

DUR_ENDURING

Special ed at 13: nothing can embarrass you after that

“Jeff Bezos said to me, it was so good. It really did help me. He said, you have to, at your age, Ari, now, know when you're on the field and know when you're off the field. The problem in the past, it was helpful to a point, but you can't get really successful. I was always on the field, always. Defined as what? Meaning I was always playing chess in any conversation, thinking of the angle, working the situation. And sometimes it should just be chill the fuck out. I never realized that.”— Ari Emanuel

Psychology & Behavior · Leadership & Management · Philosophy & Reasoning

DUR_ENDURING

Always calculating angle exhausts; off-field improves on-field

“Most software companies try to maximize your time on their app to juice engagement. Ramp does the exact opposite. Ramp understands that no one wants to spend hours chasing receipts, reviewing expense reports, and checking for policy violations. So they built their tools to give that time back, using AI to automate 85% of expense reviews with 99% accuracy. Time is the actual product, not engagement.”

Strategy & Decision Making · Business & Entrepreneurship · Technology & Engineering

DUR_ENDURING

Optimize for time saved, not engagement maximized

“I use the phone as a weapon. I have 2 people working for me and I do now a lot of stuff on AI with regard to conference calls and follow-up. Relentless follow-up and communication, over-communication. I hate it. My brother Zeke is horrible at it. He's my oldest brother. I say to him, I just sent you this to call this person because you asked me and I've connected you, and the next call is not that person. What are you doing? I don't understand. And it drives me crazy with my kids too.”— Ari Emanuel

Operations & Execution · Leadership & Management

DUR_ENDURING

Phone as weapon; relentless overcommunication is the job

“Wrestling. And when you're in high school and you have to go from my size now to 132 pounds, easier when you're younger, and you have to starve yourself plus work out and go to school. And the mental fortitude of that just keeps on going in your life that you can handle that emotional pain. And that's also in business. I can handle a lot of emotional pain. And I think one of the hardest things now for kids is that emotional endurance that you need in life right now is even more challenging.”— Ari Emanuel

Psychology & Behavior · Leadership & Management

DUR_ENDURING

Wrestling weight cuts built emotional pain tolerance for business

“When you have two older brothers that are really good at their job and a mother and a father that just push you, and there's many good things to dyslexia and any parent that has a dyslexic child, I will tell you it does get better if you hang in there. So I don't get embarrassed easily. Somebody saying no, who cares? I just keep on trying to open more doors. So those elements in my life, my mom, my brothers, competition, and I'm competitive with myself. Very.”— Ari Emanuel

Psychology & Behavior · Leadership & Management

DUR_ENDURING

Dyslexia removed embarrassment; rejection became irrelevant

“Because of that, my thyroid went on the fritz. There was so much pressure. I'd never had that physical axle. I went down to 142 pounds. Dana talks about this gray hair and emaciated, sweating. I mean, it was horrible. And finally I went to the doctor and he goes, your thyroid's going at a rate. So that was hard. But once it got done, everything came back and calmed down.”— Ari Emanuel

Psychology & Behavior · Leadership & Management

DUR_ENDURING

All-in bet caused physical collapse until resolved