Principal, Proxima
Principal of Proxima, Ryan Kavanaugh is one of the most accomplished, prolific and honored executives in entertainment industry history.
Before founding Relativity Media, Kavanaugh was active in finance and investment—activities he’s continued alongside his entertainment industry companies.
Using an intelligent financial model of film finance, He produced, distributed, and/or structured financing for more than 200 films, generating more than $20 billion in worldwide box office revenue and earning 60 Oscar nominations, holding the distinction of being the 25th highest grossing film producer of all time.
Kavanaugh also originated a number of “first of their kind” deals including the creation of Marvel Studios where Kavanaugh pioneered an innovative finance deal for post-bankruptcy Marvel, creating the studio and finance structure which led to Marvel Cinematic Universe. He went on to create the SVOD (streaming) category with Netflix, an agreement that boosted that company’s market capitalization from $2 to $10 billion.
Kavanaugh then launched a sports agency from the ground up, known today as Independent Sports & Entertainment, which under Kavanaugh’s leadership grew to become the 2ndlargest sports agency in the U.S. with over 2.5 billion dollars in player contracts.
He also created the powerhouse television company, now known as Critical Content, producing hit shows like Catfish on MTV and Limitless on CBS, which he for $200M. Prior to its sale the company had 40 television series on air across 19 networks.
Kavanaugh has built and or invested in numerous successful tech and biotech companies including funding PreCash, renamed Noventus, which sold earlier this year for north of 300M. Seed invested in ZetaRX, later renamed Juno, the largest biotech IPO of 2014, and recently lead the acquisition of the social media and music app, Triller.
Kavanaugh went on to launch Skyland Entertainment, which marked the first and only time a U.S. company was granted a government issued distribution license to distribute films in China. Pioneering the China co-finance model with Forbidden Kingdom in 2005, Kavanaugh went on to build a successful Chinese production and distribution company.
Kavanaugh has earned several achievements and awards, from Variety’sProducer of the Year Award to The Hollywood ReportersLeadership Award, from Fortune's 40 Under 40 Most Influential People in Business to Forbes’ Future 400, Billion-Dollar Producer by the Daily Variety and the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Vanity Fair.
Given his passion for animals, Kavanaugh is also active in pet food brand, Dog for Dog, who donate dog food to local and national shelters for each product purchased to save dogs from be euthanized.
He also serves on the boards of several charitable foundations including the Sheriff’s Youth Foundation and Cedars-Sinai’s Board of Governors and served as the Chairman of Art Of Elysian for almost 8 years.