LeBron is taking over business with The SpringHill Company
Hey Team,
Thanks for tuning in to The Fast Break.
If this is your first time, I really appreciate you subscribing. If this is not your first, thanks for sticking with me. Without further ado, today’s newsletter is about the SpringHill Company.
The SpringHill Company is an entertainment development and production company founded in 2020, by LeBron James and Maverick Carter. Like anything LeBron does in hoops or business, he puts smart, talented, people around him. So, you won’t be surprised that the Board members include tennis star Serena Williams, Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino, and Boston Red Sox Chairman Tom Werner. SpringHill’s business portfolio combines three companies launched by James and Carter in earlier years including SpringHill Entertainment, athlete-driven media platform Uninterrupted, and the marketing company The Robot Company.
You might have seen the tagline, “More Than an Athlete” on social media during the pandemic, this tagline is what inspired the duo to start SpringHill. The tagline stems back to 2018 when Fox News host Laura Ingraham told LeBron to “shut up and dribble” on air on Fox News when speaking about a video produced by James’ company, Uninterrupted, where he and fellow NBA star Kevin Durant spoke about several political and social justice issues during an episode. For a 2.5-minute breakdown of that situation, check out this video:
War of words between LeBron James and Laura Ingraham
The SpringHill Company, and its mantra, “More Than an Athlete”, were not the only movements LeBron leaned into in 2020. With one of the largest U.S. Elections in history looming, James also formed a voting rights group called “More Than a Vote”, an organization aimed at “protecting African-Americans’ voting rights, seizing on the widespread fury against racial injustice that has fueled worldwide protests to amplify their voices in the then-upcoming presidential election.”
While managing various hats, SpringHill launched several projects including Space Jam: A New Legacy (trailer here) along with others for HBO, including Emmy-winning talk show The Shop, and Netflix while also inking commercial partnerships with companies like Procter & Gamble and JPMorgan Chase. In addition, the company has a “first-look” scripted TV deal with ABC studios and a “first-look” movie deal with Universal Pictures, two of its major projects currently. While visual content has been the game plan so far, SpringHill considers itself a content and consumer product company.
Space Jam: A New Legacy – Trailer 1
Recently, SpringHill raised a new round of financing that values the company at $725 million. Investors are led by Gerry Cardinale’s sports-focused RedBird Capital, Nike, Boston Red Sox ownership Fenway Sports Group, and video game studio Epic Games. The syndicate acquired a “significant” minority stake in SpringHill. Two of the companies investing have significant ties to James, namely Nike who has a lifetime endorsement deal with James, and Fenway Sports Group of which James joined as a partner in 2021.
James and Carter remain majority shareholders of SpringHill despite the significant investments. The new investments come almost a year after James and Carter raised $100 million to fund SpringHill from a group of investors including Guggenheim Investments, SC.Holdings, and UC Investments. The dollar size of the new equity investment and percentage stake sold by SpringHill is not available publicly yet. It has been reported that RedBird Capital is the lead stakeholder now behind James and Carter. Redbird became somewhat famous in 2020 when it partnered with Danny Garcia and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to purchase the XFL for $15 million.
The current investment deal is significant for SpringHill, but financing and ownership are not the only value flowing between the companies. There are several synergies between SpringHill and its investors. SpringHill says that the funds will be used for international expansion, acquiring new intellectual property, pursuing new mergers and acquisitions, and investing in emerging creators. Meanwhile, SpringHill has agreed to help investors in their respective businesses. Epic Games is the creator of the video game phenomenon Fortnite. SpringHill plans to help bring unique content to the Epic’s metaverse, like when Travis Scott performed a concert in Fortnite’s metaverse in 2020. More recently, James made his debut as a playable character in the video game in July. With Fenway, SpringHill plans to create content to support the company’s sports brands, including the Boston Red Sox, and Liverpool F.C. of the Premier League.
Much of the appeal of SpringHill’s business to investors is its diversified revenue streams, including film, tv, podcasts and editorial, along with marketing consulting through The Robot Company, and consumer products like hoodies and hats. In terms of the concrete business, SpringHill has multi-year deals for scripted and unscripted content with Netflix, HBO, Apple, Universal, Disney and ESPN.
It should be no surprise that a business owned by James finds itself surrounded by the best of the best in their fields. James recently became the NBA’s first billion-dollar active player through deals and on-court earnings, he has created significant ties over the years with each of the strategic investors above, and he continues to treat his businesses with the attention and drive that he used on the court for his now almost 20-year career. To me, his success is never in doubt. SpringHill has quickly grown from raising $100 million to a $725 million valuation in a year while partnering with larger and more strategic partners. Where they go from here, I don’t know, but my guess… is up.
Thank you very, very much for reading. Have a great day, and we’ll talk on Monday.
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Kendal