Calling all moguls: Can’t make Sun Valley this year? William Morris Entertainment chief Ari Emanuel has a new hot ticket — an alternative venue for pressing the flesh and cooking up deals.
The Hollywood talent agency boss and his co-CEO, Patrick Whitesell, are extending their reach beyond Tinseltown and aiming to create sparks with the wider corporate community by putting together a conference of highfliers.
WME has been working closely with Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt to put together the conference with the support of New England Patriots boss Robert Kraft and California philanthropist Eli Broad.
Other backers of the new event include: Mukesh Ambani, of India’s Reliance Industries, a big movie investor; Kleiner Perkins’ John Doerr ; and Yuri Milner of DST Global, an early Facebook investor.
Reps for WME declined comment.
Emanuel’s new event replaces a slot left vacant last year by Forstmann Little’s annual conference because of the death of founder Teddy Forstmann.
Notably, Emanuel, who counts Silver Lake as a backer of the talent agency, does not attend the Allen & Co. confab in Sun Valley, Idaho. –Claire Atkinson
Hair supply
Add Jeff Gundlach to the list of Wall Streeters who have joined the facial hair club started last year by “Argo” director Ben Affleck.
But Gundlach insists his beard came first.
The founder and CEO of $60 billion investment house DoubleLine Capital was sporting a beard at last week’s Sohn conference in Manhattan, suggesting he has joined the ranks of newly whiskered financial titans, including Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and billionaire investor Carl Icahn.
But when approached at the reception after his talk, Gundlach, 53, insisted that his penchant for facial hair started years ago amid a “no shave” policy at DoubleLine when it was just starting out.
The firm opened after Gundlach, a successful credit trader, was notoriously ousted by his former employer, TCW, in December 2009.
A DoubleLine source confirmed the story to On the Money. He said DoubleLine raised a whopping $7 billion or so in the first year, and, in an effort to reach $10 billion, some of the men agreed to stop shaving until they met the goal.
“Back in the day when we were growing, there wasn’t a guarantee we would survive,” the source said. “Somebody said, ‘I’m not shaving until we get over $10 billion,’ ” and they were off to the races. –Kaja Whitehouse
Start with a bang
Get ready to get out of bed with CNN’s new morning show anchor Kate Bolduan.
The 29-year-old Indiana native will bring a new face to the highly profitable news segment and some Midwest attitude with it. She confessed she loves hunting.
On the Money wanted to know her stance on guns, given that the network has given a lot of airtime to the gun debate, particularly Piers Morgan’s views on the need for tighter gun regulation.
“I’ve been hunting with my father my whole life and I’m very proud of it,” Bolduan said. When asked if she’s pro-guns, she responded: “[I’m] not taking a position on guns,” but added, “I’ve used a 20-gauge shotgun my entire life.” –Claire Atkinson
Doing splits
Newly separated John Sykes, president of Clear Channel Entertainment Enterprises, gave his first big shindig as a single man late last week at his new bachelor pad on 66th Street, and attendees described it as a “Mad Man scene.”
Helping Sykes celebrate his newfound freedom, On the Money is told, were recently separated Cablevision chief Jim Dolan, top entertainment lawyer Allen Grubman, Pink Floyd musician Roger Waters, model Petra Nemcova and Discovery chief David Zaslav. –Claire Atkinson
Road clothier
This fashion truck is on a roll. Joey Wolffer launched The Styleliner — a bus outfitted with hard-to-find accessories by designers from around the globe — back in June 2010 with a $200,000 investment.
It broke even in the first year. Last year’s sales were three times those of the first.
Now Wolffer, who is also the co-owner of Wolffer Estates Vineyards in Sagaponack with her brother, is opening her first West Coast outpost, in Venice, Calif.
She’ll be doing a six-month pop-up, as well as franchising Styleliner trucks and longer term pop-up spaces in markets she wants to test.
Wolffer and her business partner, Sara Droz, have advised and collaborated with brands including Anthropologie, Nine West and Nanette Lepore. –Julie EarleLevine