NBA great LeBron James’ media company 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 hardwood success with SpringHill — the production company he co-founded with longtime business partner Maverick Carter in 2020.
The company — which has produced films like “Space Jam” and “Shooting Stars,” and the talk show “The Shop” — lost $28 million on revenue of $104 million in 2023 and is expected to finish in the red this year, Bloomberg reported on Sunday, citing financial documents obtained by the publication.
“The entertainment market shift in 2022/2023 toward profitability brought rising costs, slower buyer decisions, and impacts from industry strikes, prompting us to recalibrate, including writing off underperforming projects to position ourselves for future growth,” Carter, SpringHill’s CEO, told Bloomberg, noting that the company is expected to exceed projections this year.
SpringHill, one of many Hollywood production companies that sprouted up in the last few years to meet the demands of the growing streaming industry, 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 an apparel company — recently agreed to a merger with Fulwell 73, the British production outfit behind “The Kardashians” and the Grammy Awards, in a deal that will give the combined firms more scale during a difficult business environment
The combined company, which will have 250 employees, is shooting to be profitable by the end of next year, following a round of staff cuts.
“The new company has the scale, investors and teams needed to adapt to where this change is heading,” Carter said.
Although James’ celebrity helped launch SpringHill, Carter emphasized that its expansion didn’t center on the future hall-of-famer’s success.
“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 certain passion projects.”
Still, 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 group in a deal valuing the business at $725 million. The company had less than $80 million in sales at the time and was losing money, Bloomberg reported.
Nonetheless, other celebrity-backed production ventures soared at the time, such as Reese Witherspoon’s Hellow Sunshine, which was acquired for roughly $900 million in 2021, but has struggled financially since.
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