No one does brand management for the stars better than ABG!

Finding a company that encourages young people and brands to find their identity, evolve, and become trending in the industry is made possible thanks to ABG.

The Authentic Brands Group is a marketing and brand platform that helps firms in the fashion, sports, and entertainment industries flourish. Entertainment brands like Elvis Presley, O’Neal, Marilyn Monroe, and Nine West are all part of ABG.

It’s no wonder that fan-favorite Shaquille O’Neal became part of ABG!

Jamie Salter is the mastermind that launched Authentic Brands Group in 2010 in New York, envisioning it as the ideal platform for businesses to grow and expand their brand.

Stick around to read all about an idea evolving into a game changer.

The Budding Years of a Visionary

Born to a loving and supporting family in the picturesque, fast-paced city of Toronto, Jamie Salter enjoyed living in the capital of Canada.

Jamie was an ambitious child who truly enjoyed outdoor activities and had no trouble making friends everywhere he went. Being a dedicated and hard-working boy at school, Jamie’s interest spread in many areas he wanted to explore. Every chance he got, young Jamie used his free time to take on new hobbies, and one struck his interest the most. As the years went by, he got more interested in researching sports goods.

Jamie embarked on his educational journey by enrolling at California State University and Carleton University in Ottawa. After wrapping up his studies, Jamie put his marketing knowledge and interests in sports goods to use and started a career in sales in the 1980s.

Garnering the Experience

Jamie’s career started back in the 1990s when he acquired Kemper Snowboards in 1992. After stocking up on experience in the sales industry, Jamie felt confident enough to acquire Kemper Snowboards in 1992. With a history of managing consumer brands, Jamie wanted to further develop his entrepreneurial skills and he co-founded Ride Inc., a snowboard manufacturer.

Jamie used his retail knowledge and business skill to help the firm expand to become the world's second-largest snowboard distributor.

After some time, Jamie felt the time was right to start writing yet another business chapter, so he resigned from his position as CEO at Ride Inc.

Before embarking on his next significant endeavor - Hilco Consumer Capital, Jamie worked for several other athletic goods companies.

Hilco Consumer Capital was a renowned financial services holding firm, where Jamie served as CEO and President of GSI Commerce. Succeed-driven Jamie worked at Hilco until 2010, and at that time, he felt as if he could do more - Jamie was certain of his potential and knew more great undertakings awaited him.

And the story of Authentic Brands Group was about to begin.

Molding an Idea

After leaving Hilco Consumer Capital, nothing could stop Jamie from seeing his idea take shape.

The idea behind Authentic Brands Group was born when Jamie realized that he had gained a lot of experience working as the CEO of Hilco Consumer Capital. It was a company that specialized in the reorganization of ailing consumer brands (such as Bombay Company and Polaroid Corporation). He has become an expert in managing the development of different brands and firms - and he felt it in his gut to start something on his own.

Taking a Leap of Faith

Geared up on knowledge and experience, Jamie took the first step toward building his own dream to become a reality. It was 2010, the time when Jamie put up the foundation for Authentic Brands Group.

As chance would have it, Jamie chose New York as the headquarters for his company. The idea behind ABG was for it to be a company that oversees the value of global brands through brand development, marketing, and placement. Fashion, sports, and entertainment are all represented by ABG's companies.

Slowly but surely, Jamie built ABG into a $1.5 billion corporation in the first six years of its founding and established himself as a branding specialist. Jamie’s idea to launch his own company proved to be a real hit because ABG has risen from #61 on License Global's Top 150 Licensors list to #3 in 2020 under Jamie’s leadership.

Also, ABG was named "Company of the Year '' by Footwear News, which nominated Jamie for their Power 100 list as one of the most significant persons in the footwear industry.

Securing the Financial Grounds

As ABG started to take the shape Jamie had in his mind, he realized more funds were needed so the company would be able to reach the success heights in Jamie’s mind.

The first funding round occurred at the time Jamie was founding the company back in 2010, and luckily, an undisclosed investor invested a fine-looking sum of $250M which was enough for the company to start playing with the big boys in the industry, like Hula, Superunion, Trampoline and CFP Brands Süßwarenhandels.

To further solidify its financial grounds, ABG went through 3 more funding rounds and managed to raise a whopping sum of $1.1B. The latest funding round happened on August 11 of 2019, raising a not-so-shabby sum of $875M invested by BlackRock, a private equity fund.

ABG is expected to go public in a high-value IPO, with retailers such as Forever 21, Brooks Brothers, Nine West, JCPenney, Eddie Bauer, and Aeropostale and licenses for more than 30 brands. In 2020, Authentic Brands reported $489 million in total revenue and $225 million in net profits.

They applied for an IPO of an estimated US$1.5 billion on July 6, 2021.

Larger than Life

After Jamie launched the company with $250 million of investment under his belt, with the majority of the equity sold to Leonard Green & Partners, the future seemed bright for ABG.

The clothing labels like Silver Star and Tapout were two of ABG's first big purchases, but that didn’t stop Jamie from acquiring the rights to the Marilyn Monroe brand.

As things continued to look up for Jamie’s ABG, and in 2013, ABG bought Muhammad Ali's estate and became the owner of 85% of Elvis Presley Enterprises.

2015 was a fruitful year for ABG as the all-time favorite basketball superstar Shaquille O’Neal sold the rights to manage his marketing and merchandise to Jamie’s company. The next year, another b-ball superstar followed suit - Julius Erving sold his licensing rights and brand to ABG.

Seeing how well he was doing, Jamie geared up with even more courage and went on to announce the $110 million acquisition of Sports Illustrated.

Authenticity, All the Way

Working with more than 217 companies, 30 brands, 800+ partners, 6,300 success stories on the website, and more than 285 million followers on social media, the future of ABG is nothing short of blindingly bright.

In one interview, Jamie emphasized that the future mission for ABG is to get even bigger and develop into the kids and food industry, adding more focus on health and wellness.

Launched and coordinated by Jamie Salter, ABG is a leading American brand management company. Jamie led ABG to the top of the success ladder with over 30 years of experience in making strategic and profitable investments in fashion, sports, health and wellness, celebrity, and entertainment brand-related activities.

Headquartered in New York, ABG employs over 11.000 people across all of its subsidiaries.

Until today, ABG stands as the crown of Jamie's experience and hard work, and it’s without a doubt that the crown will continue to shine.