LeBron James’ media company reportedly lost nearly $30 million last year

LeBron James’ media giant lost nearly $30 million last year — and is on pace to lose millions more, according to a report.

The 39-year-old Lakers star, who has won four NBA titles during his legendary career, has struggled to match his success on the hardwood with SpringHill – the production company he co-founded with longtime business partner Maverick Carter in 2020 .

The company — which has produced movies like “Space Jam” and “Shooting Stars,” and talk show “The Shop” — lost $28 million on revenue of $104 million in 2023 and is expected to finish in the red this year, it reported Bloomberg. on Sunday, citing financial documents obtained by the publication.

“The 2022/2023 entertainment market shift to profitability brought rising costs, slower buyer decisions and impacts from industry strikes, prompting us to recalibrate, including offloading underperforming projects to position ourselves for future growth,” Carter, SpringHill’s CEO, told Bloomberg. , emphasizing that the company is expected to exceed forecasts this year.

SpringHill, one of several production companies launched in recent years to feed demand from streaming giants like Netflix, also lost $17 million in 2022 and has never made money, according to Bloomberg.

The company – which includes a production unit, a marketing firm and a clothing company – recently agreed to a merger with British firm Fulwell 73, which has produced the Grammys and “The Kardashians.”

The combined company will cut staff to about 250 employees and hopes to turn a profit by the end of 2025, according to Bloomberg.

“The new company has the scale, investors and teams needed to adapt to where this change is going,” Carter said.

Although James’ celebrity helped launch SpringHill, Carter emphasized that his expansion was not focused on the future success of the Hall of Famer.

“We built this business with LeBron, not around him,” Carter said, adding that James “remains deeply engaged in driving the vision and mission he helped shape, focusing more actively on several projects passion”.

However, the superstar’s involvement greatly helped SpringHill raise $15 million from Warner Bros. in 2015. In 2020, the duo raised $100 million from investors including Guggenheim Partners and News Corp heir. Elisabeth Murdoch.

A year later, they added RedBird, Nike and the owners of the Boston Red Sox to their investor pool in a deal that valued the business at $725 million. The company had less than $80 million in sales at the time and was losing money, Bloomberg reported.

However, other celebrity-backed production ventures rose at the time, such as Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, which was acquired for an estimated $900 million in 2021, but has since struggled financially.