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Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Ari Emanuel - The Anti-AI Bet - [Invest Like the Best, EP.448]

61 min episode · 2 min read
·
Ari Emanuel

Episode

61 min

Read time

2 min

Topics

Remote Work, Relationships, Investing

AI-Generated Summary

Key Takeaways

  • Live events pricing power: As AI drives digital content costs toward zero and remote work expands weekends to Thursday-Sunday, demand for live experiences (sports, concerts, festivals) increases. Premium UFC tickets and Super Bowl hospitality packages now command $50,000+ per person with no ceiling found yet on willingness to pay.
  • Relentless follow-up system: Emanuel uses phone calls as a weapon with over-communication as core principle. His system involves immediate follow-up on every connection, multiple touchpoints daily across all relationship levels (presidents to young actors), and treating velocity as competitive advantage that compounds over time in deal-making.
  • Sports rights negotiation math: When buying UFC for $4.2 billion at 20x current earnings, Emanuel calculated Fox needed content for regional sports networks and would pay premium rates. He secured deals increasing rights fees from $15 million annually to $75 million, then $150 million at Fox, validating the leverage thesis.
  • Content cost collapse impact: AI tools now generate script outlines in hours that previously took months. Production costs for filming, cinematography, and effects will approach zero. This creates opportunity for talent with large social followings (Dwayne Johnson's audience) to become direct distributors, bypassing traditional studios entirely.
  • Taste as scarce resource: When marginal content creation cost hits zero, ability to identify what audiences actually want to watch becomes the valuable skill. Emanuel estimates his hit rate at 30% (hall of fame level), meaning 60% failure rate is normal even for top tastemakers in the business.

What It Covers

Ari Emanuel explains his anti-AI bet: building a portfolio of live events (UFC, WWE, art fairs, tennis) based on the thesis that as AI makes digital content free, value concentrates in physical experiences people cannot replicate at home.

Key Questions Answered

  • Live events pricing power: As AI drives digital content costs toward zero and remote work expands weekends to Thursday-Sunday, demand for live experiences (sports, concerts, festivals) increases. Premium UFC tickets and Super Bowl hospitality packages now command $50,000+ per person with no ceiling found yet on willingness to pay.
  • Relentless follow-up system: Emanuel uses phone calls as a weapon with over-communication as core principle. His system involves immediate follow-up on every connection, multiple touchpoints daily across all relationship levels (presidents to young actors), and treating velocity as competitive advantage that compounds over time in deal-making.
  • Sports rights negotiation math: When buying UFC for $4.2 billion at 20x current earnings, Emanuel calculated Fox needed content for regional sports networks and would pay premium rates. He secured deals increasing rights fees from $15 million annually to $75 million, then $150 million at Fox, validating the leverage thesis.
  • Content cost collapse impact: AI tools now generate script outlines in hours that previously took months. Production costs for filming, cinematography, and effects will approach zero. This creates opportunity for talent with large social followings (Dwayne Johnson's audience) to become direct distributors, bypassing traditional studios entirely.
  • Taste as scarce resource: When marginal content creation cost hits zero, ability to identify what audiences actually want to watch becomes the valuable skill. Emanuel estimates his hit rate at 30% (hall of fame level), meaning 60% failure rate is normal even for top tastemakers in the business.

Notable Moment

During COVID lockdown, Emanuel secured an island in Abu Dhabi for UFC to stage fights when all other sports shut down. With comprehensive testing protocols and fighter isolation, UFC became the only live sports content available, driving pay-per-view numbers to over one million views per event.

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Episode Transcript

Here's an interesting question to think about. If your finance team suddenly had an extra week every month, what would you have them work on? Most CFOs don't know because their finance teams are grinding it out on lost expense reports, invoice coding, and tracking down receipts until the last possible minute. That's exactly the problem that Ramp set out to solve. Looking at the parts of finance everyone quietly hates and asking why are humans doing any of this? Turns out they don't need to. Ramp's AI handles 85% of expense reviews automatically with 99% accuracy, which means your finance team stops being the department that processes stuff and starts being the team that thinks about stuff. Here's the real shift. Companies using Ramp aren't just saving time, they're reallocating it. While competitors spend two weeks closing their books, you're already planning next quarter. While they're cleaning up spreadsheets, you're thinking about new pricing strategy, new markets, and where the next dollar of ROI comes from. That difference compounds. Go to ramp.com/invest to try Ramp and see how much leverage your team gains when the work you have to do stops getting in the way of the work that you want to do. To me, Ridgeline isn't just a software provider. It's a true partner in innovation. They're redefining what's possible in asset management technology, helping firms scale faster, operate smarter, and stay ahead of the curve. I wanna share a real world example of how they're making a difference. Let me introduce you to Brian. Brian, please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your role. My name is Brian Strang. I'm the technical operations lead, and I work at Congress Asset Management. How would you describe your experience working with Ridgeline? Ridgeline is a technology partner, not a software vendor, and the people really care. I get sales calls all the time, and I ignore them. Ridgeline sold me very quickly. We went from 7,000,000,000 to 23,000,000,000, and the goal is 50,000,000,000. Ridgeline was the clear front runner to help us scale. In your view, what most distinguishes Ridgeline? They reimagined how this industry should work because obviously they were operating on another level. It's worth reaching out to Ridgeline to see what the unlock can be for your firm. Visit ridgelineapps.com to schedule a demo. As an investor, gaining an edge means having the right tools, and one platform leading the way is AlphaSense. Trusted by 75% of the world's top hedge funds, AlphaSense is the market intelligence platform that gives institutional investors access to over 500,000,000 premium sources, from company filings and broker research to news, trade journals, and more. And with its recent acquisition of Tigus, it also includes the world's largest library of expert interview transcripts, over 200,000 calls covering more than 24,000 public and private companies, all in one platform so investment teams can move faster, go deeper, and make high conviction decisions with confidence. Now, AlphaSense is transforming the research …

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