News

Adding “entrepreneur” to one’s resume unsurprisingly tops the wish list of many Hollywood stars these days — and why not, when Kim Kardashian, Rihanna and Jay-Z are just a few megawatt names who have transformed the blend of celebrity partnership and business acumen into multibillion-dollar success stories?

Indeed, there’s no shortage these days of brand incubators seeking to align stars with innovative products, from El Segundo-based Beach House Group to Manhattan-based beauty incubator Maesa and Los Angeles-based A-Frame, which boasts such launches as Loved01 skincare with John Legend as the face of the brand.

For stars seeking new opportunities and a streamlined process, another high-powered and inventive player in the brand-builder space is CAA-backed Caravan, a business incubator that specializes in matching start-up companies with high-wattage entertainers and athletes.

“As I had been developing new companies at CAA, it struck me that there had to be a faster,...

This holiday season is the time of year when agents think about making moves. So CAA digital business development executive Matt Mazzeo departed before Thanksgiving to join his Silicon Valley venture capital pal Chris Sacca. Sacca founded Lowercase Capital and hired Mazzeo to head up a new Los Angeles-oriented ‘early stage’ technology fund as the firm’s first partner. Mazzeo will pursue the intersection of media and technology reportedly with capital of $25 million to $35 million to start. A right-hand man to CAA’s head of business development digital Michael Yanover for 7 years, Mazzeo spent the last few years splitting his time between Hollywood and Silicon Valley. I’m told that Mazzeo helped incubate WhoSay while CAA raised $14.4M in outside financing from Comcast Ventures and Greylock Partners. Mazzeo also aided CAA’s effort in creating Funny Or Die. More recently, Mazzeo helped CAA launch Moonshark, a development studio connecting Hollywood...

This holiday season is the time of year when agents think about making moves. So CAA digital business development executive Matt Mazzeo departed before Thanksgiving to join his Silicon Valley venture capital pal Chris Sacca. Sacca founded Lowercase Capital and hired Mazzeo to head up a new Los Angeles-oriented ‘early stage’ technology fund as the firm’s first partner. Mazzeo will pursue the intersection of media and technology reportedly with capital of $25 million to $35 million to start. A right-hand man to CAA’s head of business development digital Michael Yanover for 7 years, Mazzeo spent the last few years splitting his time between Hollywood and Silicon Valley. I’m told that Mazzeo helped incubate WhoSay while CAA raised $14.4M in outside financing from Comcast Ventures and Greylock Partners. Mazzeo also aided CAA’s effort in creating Funny Or Die. More recently, Mazzeo helped CAA launch Moonshark, a development studio connecting Hollywood...

NEW YORK -- Joost, the forthcoming Internet television service from the founders of Skype, has signed with CAA, the companies said Tuesday.

"CAA will provide Joost greater access to programming through our relationships with networks, studios, record labels artists and independently controlled content libraries," said Michael Yanover, head of business development at CAA. "We are proud to play an important role in the development of Joost."

Joost, which this month announced its commercial availability, has content partnerships with Viacom, Sony Pictures Television, Turner Broadcasting and Warner Music Group and will be part of the CBS Interactive Audience Network, set to launch in the summer. Two weeks ago, CBS, Viacom and three other firms said they committed $45 million in capital to the service, which is running in an expanded beta mode.

Meanwhile, Joost has been targeted in an injunction seeking to stop its launch. The service was added as a defendant to a lawsuit filed last year by StreamCast Networks against Joost founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom as well as their company, Skype, and its parent company, eBay, according to attorneys.