JEREMY ZIMMER'S EXIT AT UTA MARKS END OF AN ERA

Jeremy Zimmer got his start in the agent biz way back in 1979, when he left Boston College to work in the legendary mail room at William Morris. The grandson of famed MGM studio chief Dore Schary, Zimmer spent time at ICM before he co-founded UTA in 1991. Zimmer, generally known as a sweetheart in a business filled with sharks, was named CEO in 2012, guiding the firm to become a comfortable number three behind behemoths CAA and Endeavor/WME.

When UTA announced on Monday that Zimmer will step down on 6/1 and be replaced by President David Kramer, it marked the end of an era for the agency and its music department, which Zimmer had championed. Under his leadership, UTA purchased U.K. company The Agency Group (TAG) in 2015, which included 90-plus agents and more than 2,000 acts. The acquisition established UTA as a worldwide player, and TAG founder Neil Warnock became a top exec at UTA.

Zimmer was an aggressive CEO, sometimes, said his critics, to a fault. His expansion into sports, via an investment in and eventual purchase of Rich Paul’s Klutch, and more recently the deal for Michael Kassan’s ad consultancy firm MediaLink, came at steep costs, both financially and, in the case of messy litigation with MediaLink, to Zimmer’s reputation within UTA.

Still, the music department continued to grow. Today, led by David Zedeck, Samantha Kirby Yoh and Scott Clayton, UTA Music counts an array of A-listers among its clients, including Bad Bunny, Rauw Alejandro, Guns N' Roses, Creed, Anitta, KAROL G, Carín León, Lil Wayne, Paramore, Chris Brown, J. Cole, Diplo and Dolly Parton.

In related news, the UTA music team is firmly unified in its commitment to dodging our calls.