AEG AQUIRES OWNERSHIP SHARES
OF GOLDEN BOY PROMOTIONS
For
Immediate Release
LOS ANGELES (May 8, 2008)
– AEG, considered one of the world’s
leading live sports and entertainment presenters,
has entered into an agreement with boxing’s
leading promoter, Golden Boy Promotions to acquire
ownership shares of the Los Angeles-based organization
it was announced today by Oscar De La Hoya,
President of Golden Boy Promotions and Tim Leiweke,
President & CEO, AEG. The acquisition will
make AEG the company’s second largest
shareholder behind De La Hoya.
“Having fought and
promoted many successful championship fight
cards in AEG-owned venues such as STAPLES Center
and The Home Depot Center, I have developed
a tremendous amount of respect both personally
and professionally for how AEG does business,
how they operate their facilities and the integrity
they have consistently shown to me and my partners
at Golden Boy Promotions,” said De La
Hoya. “Our new partnership will create
so many new synergies from jointly promoting
events in their arenas worldwide to exploring
new ways to develop successful promotions built
around our boxing shows taking place in their
facilities. To Tim and Dan, on behalf of Richard
and our partners, we look forward to many successful
promotions together.”
Also participating in the
announcement was Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden
Boy Promotions, representing other shareholders
of Golden Boy Promotions including Bernard Hopkins,
Shane Mosley and The Brener Group and Dan Beckerman,
Chief Operating Officer, AEG.
Schaefer added, “Golden
Boy Promotions has always prided itself as a
company that does things in a first class manner
and with first class people. We couldn’t
ask for better partners than Tim, Dan and everyone
at AEG. They have proven themselves over the
years to be the best of the best and we look
forward to a long and productive relationship
with them.”
In addition to hosting several
of De La Hoya’s and Golden Boy Promotions’
most successful and memorable fights including
De La Hoya-Mosley (STAPLES Center, June 2000),
Hopkins-Eastman (STAPLES Center, February 2005),
Barrera-Juarez (STAPLES Center, May 2006), Vazquez-Marquez
(The Home Depot Center, March 2007) and Vazquez-Marquez
III (The Home Depot Center, March 2008) and
the most recent: De La Hoya-Forbes held outdoors
at The Home Depot Center before a crowd of 27,000,
AEG and De La Hoya have established other business
partnerships including De La Hoya’s recent
acquisition of ownership shares of Major League
Soccer’s Houston Dynamo franchise owned
by AEG.
“When we look at Golden
Boy Promotions, we see the best management team,
the best vision for boxing industry and the
best ownership group in the industry. They are
the future of boxing and a company we are proud
to be associated with,” said Leiweke.
“We have committed to adding all of our
resources and assets to provide additional opportunity
to grow Golden Boy into the most dominant promoters
and providers of content in boxing. Perhaps
the most unique aspect of this partnership is
the fact that the markets that we are most rapidly
expanding into are the same markets that they
are hoping to grow into as well,” Leiweke
added.
“From the outset, we
have had tremendous respect for Oscar and Richard’s
philosophy of honesty and integrity in the relationships
they have with their fighters as well as business
associates and partners,” said Beckerman.
“Over the years, we have come to realize
that we share their vision of creating a global
company capable of promoting impressive and
successful fight cards in venues worldwide.”
About Golden Boy Promotions:
Los Angeles-based Golden
Boy Promotions was established in 2001 by Oscar
de la Hoya, the first Hispanic to own a national
boxing promotional company. In 2007, in its
sixth year of promoting, Golden Boy Promotions
set a record by selling over 2.5 million in
pay-per-view homes in a single night. Also in
2007, Golden Boy Promotions established the
record for pay-per-view sales by one promotional
company in a single year selling events to more
than 4 million homes total. Golden Boy Promotions
is one of boxing’s most active and respected
promoters, presenting shows in packed venues
around the United States on networks such as
HBO, HBO Latino, TeleFutura, Showtime and ESPN.
About AEG:
AEG, a wholly owned subsidiary
of the Anschutz Company, is the world’s
largest investor in entertainment and sports
facilities; the world’s largest presenter
of live sports and entertainment events; world’s
largest owner of sports teams and sports events;
owner of the world’s most profitable sports
and entertainment venues; world’s largest
developer of sports and entertainment sponsorship
and naming rights; has invested billions of
dollars in sports, entertainment and media projects;
and reaches billions of people each year through
its facilities, events, music, theater, festivals,
sports, films and media assets. AEG has a long
history of success in the global sports and
entertainment industries including the STAPLES
Center (Los Angeles, CA), NOKIA Theatre Times
Square, NOKIA Theatre at Grand Prairie (TX),
the El Rey Theatre (Hollywood, CA), the WaMu
Theatre (Seattle, WA), Target Center (Minneapolis,
MN) and three just opened arenas, Sprint Center
(Kansas City, MO), Prudential Center (Newark,
NJ) and The O2, a 28-acre development located
in the eastern part of London along the Thames
River which includes a 20,000 seat arena and
over 650,000sf of leisure and entertainment
use; sports franchises throughout the world
including the Los Angeles Kings (NHL), Los Angeles
Riptide (MLL), the Los Angeles Galaxy and Houston
Dynamo (MLS) in addition to overseeing privately
held management shares of the Los Angeles Lakers
(NBA). AEG developed and operates The Home Depot
Center, a $150 million national training facility
on the Campus of California State University
Dominguez Hills in Carson, California designated
as an “Official U.S. Olympic Training
Site” by the United States Olympic Committee
that includes major facilities for soccer, tennis,
track & field, cycling, lacrosse, rugby,
action sports, beach volleyball, basketball
and other sports.
AEG’s live entertainment
division, AEG LIVE is one of the world’s
leading concert promotion and touring companies
with fifteen regional offices and stand-alone
affiliate divisions devoted to all aspects of
live entertainment including: AEG LIVE Events,
creators and producers of special events of
all sizes; AEG-TV, creators of live events for
television, DVD, pay-per-view, cinema and other
electronic media and AEG LIVE Tours & Special
Events, Concerts West, Goldenvoice, The Messina
Group and AEG Exhibitions, the company’s
national entertainment promotion and touring
divisions. AEG LIVE is currently overseeing
the international museum tour of the artifacts
of King Tut “Tutankhamun and the Golden
Age of the Pharaohs” and produced Celine
Dion A New Day…Presented By Chrysler,
a spectacular theatrical production starring
Dion and directed by Franco Dragone which just
concluded an unprecedented five year “residency”
at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
AEG LIVE co-produces the New Orleans Jazz &
Heritage Festival and Goldenvoice, the company’s
southern California-based regional promotion
division created and operates the award winning
annual Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival.
Recently promoted tours have starred artists
and groups including Prince, Usher, Kenny Chesney,
Rod Stewart, Paul McCartney, Yanni, the Eagles,
George Strait, Justin Timberlake and Christina
Aguilera, Dixie Chicks, Hannah Montana and American
Idol.