Horizm has today announced that eminent sports lawyer and O’Melveny partner Charles “Chuck” Baker has become the latest industry leader to join their advisory board. The world-renowned dealmaker, who was recently named a 2021 “Power Player” by Sports Business Journal, has advised on a range of investments across a variety of high profile sports properties, including the LA Lakers and the Carolina Panthers.
In his role as Co-Chair of O’Melveny’s Sports Industry Group, Chuck’s practice encompasses M&A, private equity, and venture capital, with a core focus on sports. He recently advised Todd Boehly, Co-Founder and CEO of Eldridge Industries, on his acquisition of a minority interest in the Los Angeles Lakers. He has also advised private equity firm Arctos Sports Partners’ minority investments in NBA and NHL franchises, David Tepper’s $2.275B acquisition of the NFL Carolina Panthers and he represented L.A. women’s soccer team Angel City FC and FC Kansas City in their recent expansions into the National Women’s Soccer League.
Chuck has long been held in high regard for his influence within the industry and has received a number of prestigious accolades, including being named as a 2020 “Sports & Betting MVP” by Law360 and a 2019 “Dealmaker of the Year” by The American Lawyer.
The announcement of Chuck Baker’s addition to Horizm’s advisory board comes after Horizm’s recent round of international investment. Baker joins a board that includes industry luminaries such as Ricardo Fort, former Global Head of Sponsorship for Coca Cola, Irina Pavlova, formerly with Merrill Lynch, Google and the Brooklyn Nets, and Craig Thompson, Managing Partner at Mindspring Capital and former Managing Director of T.E.A.M Marketing AG.
Commenting on the announcement, Baker said:
“I am thrilled to be joining a board of such distinguished individuals and to be supporting Horizm, a company that I believe is at the forefront of sports technology, and disrupting how teams and sponsors think of digital audiences. I am looking forward to working with Pedro and his team, and hope I can help shape the next phase of Horizm’s upward journey.”
Horizm CEO, Pedro Mestriner added:
“It is a huge honour for us to be bringing someone of Baker’s stature and influence into the Horizm group. His reputation within sports, particularly in the US market, is second to none, and I firmly believe his input will play a vital part in guiding the growth of our business”.
With a number of significant new client wins across the first quarter of 2022, Horizm now works with more than 90 rights holders, serving over 310 sports properties across the world. These relationships mean that Horizm have more than $1.5bn in digital inventory under management, which equates to more than 170bn annual impressions that are quickly and easily available to brands through, their groundbreaking Horizm Marketplace platform.
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About Horizm
Founded in 2019, Horizm was born with the goal of being the number one digital audience platform for the global sports and entertainment industries; to revolutionize the way rights holders and brands operate in our new digital era and fully support them across their digital asset life cycles.
Through their proprietary Marketplace, Horizm connects brands interested in reaching sports fans with rights holders looking for ways to better value and monetize their digital content. Horizm Marketplace aggregates over $1.5bn of digital inventory, offering brands a convenient and effective route to target customers through the highly engaged medium of sports content.
This inventory is accessed through contracted agreements which see Horizm leverage artificial intelligence to provide sports and entertainment with the complete toolkit needed to value, benchmark and monetize their digital audience engagement. Predicated on a more rigorous, more holistic approach to managing and selling digital inventory, one that is routed in understanding true market price, Horizm’s platform also enables rights holders, agencies and talent to drive more value for their partners and unlock new revenue streams from existing inventory.
Horizm is the chosen digital solution for leading football clubs such as Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea, Everton, Real Madrid, Juventus, Olympique Lyonnais, Benfica, Flamengo and Wolverhampton Wanderers along with the Portuguese Football Federation and other elite sports organisations such as Saracens, Cricket West Indies, Delhi Capitals, the FIVB, the FIH and the Australian Open.
Horizm. Digital Audiences Unlocked.
