Major shareholders cut ties with De La Hoya's promotional firm
Oscar De La Hoya has bought out the stake of two major shareholders in his company, Golden Boy Promotions, an ESPN.com report said.
Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) requested De La Hoya buy back its 20 percent ownership stake in the company, and private investor Gabriel Brener did the same for his 12 percent stake. AEG and Brener asked out because they had not seen a return on their initial 2008 investment in the company, the report said. The buy back now affords De La Hoya ownership of 87 percent of the company's stock. A Golden Boy spokesman confirmed the sale to ESPN.
AEG president Dan Beckerman told ESPN:
"We have enjoyed a long and mutually beneficial partnership with Golden Boy Promotions. Earlier this quarter, Golden Boy Promotions re-purchased AEG's equity interest in the company that was originally acquired in May of 2008."
"We wish Oscar De La Hoya all the best and we look forward to continuing to host Golden Boy Promotions events in our venues in the years to come."
AEG is a sports and entertainment company that owns arenas and puts on events. It has hosted several boxing events involving Golden Boy fights. The relationship between AEG and De La Hoya was once strong enough that AEG erected a statue of De La Hoya outside the Staples Center in Los Angeles, which the company owns.
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A spokesman for Golden Boy implied to ESPN that the relationship between De La Hoya and the company's other owners had been detrimental:
"With Oscar back at the helm we no longer have to contend with petty, ego-driven feuds that have cost fans the best fights for years, fans who couldn't care less about the financial composition of the company."
Former Golden Boy chief executive Richard Schaefer resigned earlier this year after a protracted disagreement with De La Hoya over how the company should be run. Schaefer's ouster allowed De La Hoya, among other things, to rekindle a lucrative television relationship for Golden Boy fights with HBO, Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix wrote.
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