Silver Lake-backed investment firm WTSL, led by Patrick Whitesell, is entering the talent management space with the launch of a new division, WIN Artists, bringing on former WME Sports co-head Josh Pyatt to lead the venture, as per the exclusive report by The Hollywood Reporter.
Pyatt joins WTSL as a partner and will also work with WIN Sports Group, the firm’s football talent agency built following its acquisition of WME’s NFL representation business last year. Pyatt had exited WME Sports last summer as part of that transaction.
The newly formed WIN Artists will focus on representing sports personalities beyond their on-field careers, with plans to expand into working with musicians, creators and other talent. The division’s initial client roster includes pro golfer Bryson DeChambeau, Shaquille O’Neal’s Jersey Legends, Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions, and Derek Jeter’s Cap 2 Productions.
“It seemed like a natural time to have Josh come in and lead this inside of WIN and create our artist group,” Whitesell said. “It is similar to the tailwinds that we saw in 2008, 2009, 2010 in the core movie and television business, as far as at that time, directors, actors, showrunners could build out businesses around what they were doing in their day job.”
Pyatt said the vision is to build a management company centred around top-tier talent with diverse ambitions. “The ambition, the goal is to build a business around around icons, around the 1 percent, with the idea that talent these days are multifaceted, they’re interested in doing a bunch of different things, and being able to help them build businesses from scratch or get them into new areas is exciting to me,” he said. “Ultimately, long term, I want to build a management company with a group of people that I really like and respect, and that starts with the clients, but ultimately the broader management company will look to fill out other people that we want to work on an everyday basis with.”
WIN Artists will work with clients to scale ventures across media and content, brand partnerships and other business opportunities. Many of its early clients have already built significant platforms beyond sports. O’Neal, for instance, has maintained cultural relevance through television and social media, while DeChambeau has developed a large YouTube following alongside his professional golf career.
However, Pyatt indicated that the firm’s scope will extend beyond athletes. “We want to walk with unique personalities and and business builders,” he said. “They could be an athlete, they could be a musician, they could be a race car driver, they could be a podcaster.”
During his tenure at WME Sports, Pyatt worked with high-profile clients including LeBron James, Lionel Messi, and the late Kobe Bryant, helping them expand their brands beyond sports into broader business ventures.
“I think having a point of view is is very important, but then you also have to have clients that are willing to actually do the work, otherwise it falls flat,” Pyatt said. “And I think that ultimately is what we want to do at WIN. We want to work with clients that we know have an appetite and an interest, but that will also follow through on the execution to bring something to life and make it transcendent.”
The move comes at a time when athletes are increasingly building businesses across media, content and consumer products, leveraging their global visibility. Whitesell pointed to the shifting landscape, where traditional barriers to entry have diminished.
“If you’re building a viable media company that in and of itself can be incredibly valuable. But once you have that footprint and that connection to the audience and that brand recognition, your ability to move out into consumer products and other lines of businesses that that media company can help drive is enormous,” he said. “The gatekeepers that traditionally have been there have kind of fallen away. So it’s kind of the greatest time, I think, to be someone like that in the business, in a world where all we talk about is disruption.”
WTSL was established after Silver Lake took Endeavor private, where Whitesell served as executive chairman. The firm has committed $250 million to the venture. Former Endeavor CFO Jason Lublin has also joined as a partner.
As part of its broader strategy, WTSL acquired WME’s NFL representation business and has since invested in Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions. The firm has also entered into a joint venture with Universal Music Group, signalling its growing focus on the intersection of talent, media and business.
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