French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault has agreed to buy a majority stake in the Creative Artists Agency, or CAA to its friends.
It was reported in July that Pinault was in advanced talks with private equity outfit TPG Inc about acquiring its stake in the Hollywood talent agency via his Groupe Artémis company. The deal values the CAA business at around $7 billion.
CAA represents thousands of actors, directors, screenwriters, authors and athletes, as well as being very active in the music space, of course, coordinating the live and touring activities of a big roster of artists.
Pinault is also CEO of the luxury fashion group Kering, which owns the Gucci and Saint Laurent brands, and in which Artémis has a 40.9% stake.
Groupe Artémis also has a stake in Puma, and owns things like the Christies auction house, French news magazine Le Point and cruise ship operator Ponant. Its tech investments division has also invested in the likes of Bytedance and Deezer.