CAA Cuts Top Agents in Move to Lower Costs, Boost Profits

CAA Cuts Top Agents in Move to Lower Costs, Boost Profits

Hollywood talent agency CAA is tightening its belt two years after its acquisition by a private equity firm with several top-earning agents leaving the company in recent weeks. 

The once-undisputed Hollywood powerhouse began conversations as early as September about terminating some of its most expensive talent agents, a cost-cutting move intended to boost profit margins for owner TPG Capital, multiple individuals familiar with the agency and former employees told TheWrap.

“Suggestions that TPG would manage specific personnel decisions and expenses would be made only by people totally unfamiliar with TPG’s investment style,” the spokesperson added.

Nonetheless, in the clubby circles of Hollywood agents and managers the word for months has been that year-end bonuses have been cut across multiple departments and that TPG  has expressed concerns about spending on travel and expenses.

Budget cuts come at a time when CAA finds itself increasingly overshadowed by blood rival WME — a company that continues to expand beyond its core Hollywood business through acquisitions like its recent $4 billion purchase of Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Not only did the relative upstart recently take “Modern Family” star and endorsement horse Sofia Vergara as well as James Franco from CAA after Putnam-Heist’s exit, it took the majority of CAA’s comedy department in a 2015 “midnight raid” — resulting in a bitter lawsuit between the two companies that is still not resolved.

Read original story CAA Cuts Top Agents in Move to Lower Costs, Boost Profits At TheWrap