Dentsu Announces Agreement to Acquire 33.3% Membership Interest in Sports Agency Athletes First, LLC


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 7, 2015

Dentsu Announces Agreement to Acquire 33.3% Membership Interest in Sports Agency Athletes First, LLC

Dentsu Inc. (Tokyo: 4324; ISIN: JP3551520004; President & CEO: Tadashi Ishii; Head Office: Tokyo; Capital: 74,609.81 million yen) announced today that its subsidiary Dentsu Sports, LLC (Head Office: Laguna Hills, California, USA) has reached an agreement with the members of the sports agency Athletes First, LLC (Head Office: Laguna Hills, California, USA) to acquire a
33.3% membership interest in the company.
Athletes First is a full-service agency which represents National Football League (NFL) players, NFL and college coaches, professional baseball players, individual athletes in other sports, and other sports-related clients, including broadcasters, with regard to individual contract negotiations, marketing/commercial endorsements, and other client services. Athletes First was founded in 2001 in the United States, which is the world's largest sports market.
The firm's core expertise involves the representation and management of athletes and coaches associated with the NFL, a sports league which boasts a popularity and economic scale that is unparalleled even among the four major professional sports leagues in the U.S. Its championship game, the Super Bowl, holds nine out of the top ten rankings for the most watched television broadcasts in the U.S. Athletes First has more NFL clients than any other privately-owned representation agency including the reigning NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers, as well as several other high-profile NFL players including Clay Matthews, Carson Palmer, Earl Thomas, Von Miller and Jamaal Charles. Athletes First also represents ESPN broadcasters Steve Young, Ray Lewis, and Trent Dilfer, as well as NFL head coaches Chip Kelly and Jason Garrett. Forbes Magazine lists Athletes First as the eighth most valuable sports agency in the world and the most valuable (tied) sports agency which focuses primarily on football.
The Dentsu Group has to date been involved in business with sales of marketing and broadcasting rights for professional sports leagues in the U.S., and the investment in Athletes First will enable it to expand its array of services to its client base in terms of sports marketing and related endeavors in the United States.
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Going forward, Dentsu will work toward the further expansion of Athletes First's agency business and the diversification of its sports representation, sports marketing and consulting business across the United States, and internationally as well.
The impact of this transaction on Dentsu's consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2015 (tentative) is expected to be minimal.

Profile of Athletes First

Company Name: Athletes First, LLC
Location: Laguna Hills, California, USA Date of Establishment: February 2001
Shareholding Ratio*: Dentsu Sports, LLC 33.3% Athletes First members 66.7%
*After transaction has been completed
Revenue: Approximately USD 10,000,000 (year ended December
2014) Representative: David Dunn (CEO) Number of Employees: 19
Line of Business: Full-service agency representation of NFL athletes, coaches and broadcasters for contract and marketing negotiations
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Contact: Shusaku Kannan

Senior Manager

Corporate Communications Division

Telephone: (813) 6216-8042

E-mail: s.kannan@dentsu.co.jp

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