Apr 13, 2024
Another chapter in the tumultuous history of the media company that, until last month, published Sports Illustrated was detailed in a lawsuit filed in Delaware last week.
The plaintiffs are James Heckman and William Sornsin, cofounders of The Arena Group, which until January published SI under a license from Authentic Brands Group. They allege that Ross Levinsohn, who was ousted as Arena CEO late last year, “enacted a fraudulent coup” to seize control of Arena in the summer of 2020, a year after Arena (then known as Maven) entered into a 10-year, $150 million deal licensing deal with Authentic.
“Once Levinsohn took control of Arena, he intentionally mismanaged Arena and destroyed its value to set up a change-of-control transaction to enrich himself,” the complaint states. “In so doing, Levinsohn violated his fiduciary duties and acted in bad faith by prioritizing his self-interest above the Company’s.”
Source: Front Office Sports