WME Acquires Ross Yoon Agency, Bulking Up Book Business And Establishing A Presence In Washington

Endeavor-owned WME has acquired the Ross Yoon Agency, a Washington, D.C.-based literary firm.

As part of the transaction, Ross Yoon’s President Gail Ross and Principal Howard Yoon will join WME as partners. The move bulks up WME’s book business, adding a roster of literary and commercial non-fiction authors, and also gives the agency a presence in Washington.

Among the genres repped by Ross Yoon are memoir, biography, history, popular science, business and psychology. The agency’s clients, including Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists and authors, business and non-profit leaders, top doctors and scientists, academics, politicians, and media personalities, will join WME’s roster. 

“This acquisition is a natural evolution of WME’s long history of representing best-selling authors and helping bring their visions to life across platforms,” said WME Co-Chairmen Christian Muirhead and Richard Weitz in a press release. “We are proud that after so many hugely successful independent years Gail and Howard chose WME as their partner in this next phase of growth.” 

Jay Mandel, partner and head of WME’s book department, said Ross Yoon’s principals “set the gold standard of nonfiction representation.” He called the agency “the perfect complement to our book business, with a brilliant client base that will be supercharged by all WME has to offer.”  

Ross and Yoon described the deal as “a compelling opportunity to help our clients build their careers in books and beyond.”

WME’s book department has long been a pillar for the agency. In 2022, it had more than 50 New York Times bestsellers and reported closing nearly 1,000 publishing deals around the world.