Did you know that Travis Kelce is producing a documentary on Jean-Michel Basquiat?
Or that the company that gutted Sports Illustrated co-owns Shaq?
Salter founded Authentic Brands Group in 2010 after a career in financial services. It is a brand ownership firm that buys the intellectual property of celebrities dead and alive — including Elvis, Shaquille O'Neal and David Beckham — and then collects royalties from their use. Authentic launched a production studio that was involved in Elvis the movie and Beckham's Netflix docuseries. It bought O'Neal's brand rights and owns approximately 50 percent of his future lifetime earnings, from endorsements to his HBO show to his broadcasting deal with TNT.
"He got a lot of money from us [upfront], and [we] grew his brand exponentially," Salter said. [source]
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Moments before O'Neal closed the deal to sign away half of his brand proceeds to Authentic, he turned to Salter with an idea.
"[O'Neal] says, 'You know all that money you're going to give me?'" related Salter. "'I'd like to invest it in ABG.' And that's how he became the second-largest shareholder of ABG." [source]
So Shaq co-owns the company that co-owns him.