Initiative Media Worldwide 
International Video Entertainment 
UTA has acquired management consulting firm MediaLink for $125 million in a deal designed to solidify the talent agency's strength in business marketing and advisory operations.The pact with U.K. analytics firm Ascential calls for MediaLink to become a wholly owned entity of the agency. MediaLink will retain its name and management team, led by founder and CEO Michael Kassan, and operate as "a UTA company." Kassan, who founded MediaLink in 2003, will become an agency partner.MediaLink's 150-plus employees in Los...
MediaLink
Michael
Kassan
Founder / Chairman / CEO
Kassan’s seat at the axis of marketing, media, entertainment, finance and technology has made him a trusted adviser to CMOs, big media moguls, Hollywood visionaries, tech pioneers and advertising holding company heads. Previously President/COO and Vice Chairman of Initiative Worldwide Media (then known as Western International Media), he launched MediaLink in 2003 and quickly established it as the go-to source for agency reviews, executive search and financial due diligence. In June, the company demonstrated its might when it held 1,000 meetings over the course of five days at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the marketing biz’s premier industry gathering (owned by Ascential, which bought MediaLink two years ago). Kassan was inducted into the American Advertising Federation’s Hall of Fame in April.
