Latest in Kevin Mayer

Entertainment finance firm Forest Road has launched its second SPAC with Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs as co-CEOs and co-chairs. Units of Forest Road Acquisition Corp. II started trading today on the New York Stock Exchange as the execs begin the search for a target company in the tech, media, telecommunications or…

Kevin Mayer, whose long tenure at Disney culminated in the successful launch of Disney+, is joining sports streaming outfit DAZN as chairman. He replaces former colleague John Skipper, the longtime former ESPN executive who steered DAZN through launches in the U.S. and other global territories. Backed by billionaire…

Began hearing this last week, but the drums are beating louder that Scooter Braun is in early discussions to sell his business, Ithaca, to former Disney and Tiktok honcho Kevin Mayer, who has backing through Blackstone. This is one of three offers being mulled. Braun is the record exec, manager of Ariana Grande…

Forest Road Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (or SPAC) backed by the eponymous entertainment finance firm with a Hollywood-heavy roster of advisors has found its target, announcing plans to buy digital fitness specialist Beachbody Company and take it public. The transaction involves a three-way…

UPDATED with name and details of new venture: John Skipper and Dan Le Batard, who were ESPN colleagues as network president and on-air talent, respectively, have formed Meadowlark Media. The content venture, supported by billionaire Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries, “will emphasize a creator-centric point of view,&#8221…

Entertainment finance firm Forest Road and a team of A-list media insiders from Tom Staggs to Kevin Mayer have closed a $300 million IPO of a new SPAC – a special purpose acquisition vehicle they'll use to buy a private company in media, tech or telecom. SPACs, which are exploding, are basically empty publicly traded…

Kevin Mayer, who spearheaded Disney’s pivot to direct-to-consumer streaming and briefly served as TikTok’s CEO, has joined billionaire Len Blavatnik’s investment company Access Industries as a senior media adviser. Blavatnik has stakes in Warner Music Group, which recently had a successful IPO, as well as sports…

RedBird Capital Partners, the investment firm with stakes in David Ellison's Skydance Media and the YES Network, is opening a West Coast office in Los Angeles and has hired longtime top Goldman Sachs banker Andy Gordon to lead it. He starts in February as partner charged with extending the firm’s expertise in media…

There's a SPAC born every minute – today a new one called Forest Road Acquisition registered with the SEC to raise $250 million and hunt for media and entertainment deals with executives and advisors from former TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer and former Walt Disney CFO Tom Staggs to basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal. SPACs…

Kevin Mayer, longtime Walt Disney dealmaker and short-lived TikTok CEO — is in talks to join RedBird Capital. A person familiar with the situation confirmed Mayer is in talks about a role at the investment firm, whose entertainment and sports holdings include stakes in David Ellison’s Skydance Media and the YES…

A new TikTok Global would file for an initial public offering in the U.S. in about a year under a plan still awaiting approval by President Trump that would see Oracle and Walmart as major investors in the video sharing app, according to reports Thursday. TikTok is said to have approached Instagram cofounder Kevin Syst…

Walmart stock gained 5% — a major move for the typically sleepy, large-cap shares — on news today that the retail giant has teamed with Microsoft to explore a bid for TikTok’s U.S. operations. Microsoft, along with Oracle and Twitter, had already been in the mix as a potential acquirer of the fast-growing social…