Business

Fighting was always in fashion for Teddy

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Teddy Forstmann may have made his name on Wall Street, but in later years he took the sports and fashion world by storm.

The man who applied the phrase “barbarians at the gate” to a new style of naked financial greed would two decades later become one of the most powerful men in sports, fashion and media, building IMG Worldwide into a global management powerhouse that boasted clients from Tiger Woods to Gisele Bundchen.

Forstmann, 71, who died yesterday of brain cancer, bought IMG for $750 million in 2004, a move that was seen at the time as his swan song.

But instead of selling out, Forstmann ran the show. From his 45th floor office at Forstmann, Little & Co. overlooking Central Park, he turned the then-struggling IMG into the largest sports and entertainment management firm of its kind.

Under his watch, the firm expanded beyond athlete management into events, sponsorships and media rights, such as Fashion Week in New York and the US TV rights to the Olympics.

Even in the final weeks of his life, the feisty and tireless Forstmann managed to block a coup launched by Hollywood tycoon Michael Ovitz to wrest control of the empire while Forstmann battled cancer.

Ovitz, once a director there, was banished from IMG in one of Forstmann’s last acts at its helm. IMG, still controlled by his estate and current management, is expected to appoint Forstmann’s handpicked successor, Michael Dolan, as chairman and CEO.

In April, IMG named Dolan president and chief operating officer to take over day-to-day duties while Forstmann battled cancer.

Forstmann also fought controversy when Agate Printing, run by a former golfing buddy, accused him of betting on college sports, and wagering on one IMG client, Roger Federer, against another, Rafael Nadal.

Forstmann’s lawyers dismissed the suit as an extortion attempt, and a court threw out the claims, ruling they were covered under a previous settlement between Agate and Forstmann.