Second City, the famous comedy theater, which for more than half a century helped define American humor, was sold to a private equity group on Thursday, the company said in a statement. The ZMC group, led by Strauss Zelnick, invests in media entities; Zelnick is also the chief executive of Take-Two Interactive Software, the video game conglomerate behind Grand Theft Auto.
It is the first time that Second City, based in Chicago and outposts in Hollywood and Toronto, has changed ownership since the 1980s, when Andrew Alexander, a producer and former head of the Toronto location, took over as co-owner and chief executive. . Since it opened in 1959, Second City has helped start the careers of Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert and Keegan Michael-Key. Before the pandemic, it was almost certainly the largest live comedy business in the country, with more than 700 full-time and part-time employees and an internship contract from Actors Equity. The sale price was not disclosed, but was estimated at around $ 50 million, according to The Financial Times.
In the statement, Steve Johnston, president of Second City (also known as The Second City), said: “We are excited to be working with ZMC as we continue to transform the company into a fair and prosperous environment while presenting comedy. world-class for our audience. “
The shift comes at a time when Second City faces a downturn in business caused by pandemic outages. He reduced his face-to-face shows, tours, classes and corporate workshops – a large part of his business – although the theater aimed to recover with online comedy and digital content. When Alexander announced that he was looking for buyers last October, he said it was “time for a new generation with new ideas to take the company to the next level”.
Second City has also been trying to restructure itself after intense criticism of how to handle the race. Alexander, who has been involved with the theater for almost 50 years, left office abruptly last summer, after black artists publicly detailed their experiences of being stereotyped and demoted. A series of open letters from black artists and officials outlined complicated and expensive stages for the theater to combat institutional racism, and the Second City leadership agreed to make wholesale changes.
“We are prepared to drop everything and start again,” wrote theater leaders in an open letter. They appointed a new interim executive director, Anthony LeBlanc, the first black leader in the company’s history, and took many other steps, even though their areas of activity remained closed.
The announcement of the sale suggested that ZMC would not abandon this plan. “We are very excited about partnering with the management and The Second City’s incredible talent to grow the brand and build a diverse organization that raises all voices,” said Jordan Turkewitz, co-director of investments and managing partner at ZMC in the statement.