Ben Ross is a Co-Chair of Gibson Dunn’s Media, Entertainment, and Technology Practice Group. He advises public companies, private equity sponsors, growth-stage companies, and founders on mergers and acquisitions and other complex strategic transactions, with particular experience across the media, entertainment, technology, consumer brands, and services sectors.
Ben regularly represents clients in the acquisition and sale of entertainment platforms and assets, technology businesses, and IP-driven consumer brands. He is frequently engaged on repeat and programmatic M&A, add-on acquisitions, strategic divestitures, and ownership transitions for sponsor-backed and founder-led businesses, and is known for navigating complex deal economics, including bespoke waterfalls and highly tailored structures.
Ben has been recognized as a leading lawyer in M&A by Chambers USA, one of the Top 500 Leading Lawyers in America by Lawdragon, a “Power Lawyer” by The Hollywood Reporter, and one of the best lawyers in the entertainment industry by Variety.
Ben clerked for Chancellor William B. Chandler III of the Delaware Court of Chancery. He received his J.D. from New York University School of Law, where he was awarded the Vanderbilt Medal and the President’s Service Award, and his B.A., magna cum laude, in Philosophy from Princeton University.
Representative Clients
The Azoff Company (and affiliated platforms) in strategic transactions and investments across music, live entertainment, sports, and media, including Global Music Rights, Iconic Artists Group, and Oak View Group, and related institutional financings, acquisitions, and joint ventures.
Universal Pictures (and affiliates, including Comcast divisions) in strategic investments, acquisitions, and partnerships, including with Amblin Partners, Will Packer Productions, Blumhouse Productions, and Illumination Entertainment.
Candle Media in multiple acquisitions and investments, including Hello Sunshine, Westbrook, ATTN:, The Home Edit, and Faraway Road Productions.
High-profile entertainers, athletes, and founders in the formation, financing, and sale of consumer brands and IP-driven businesses, including Huda Beauty (TSG Consumer Partners investment and redemption, and the sale of KAYALI), Jen Atkin (sale of Ouai to Procter & Gamble), and Kevin Hart (strategic partnership with Authentic Brands Group).
Other Experience
Ben has also advised public companies, private equity sponsors, growth-stage companies, and other organizations on cross-border transactions, financings, and restructurings, including complex, multi-year internal reorganizations and governance-driven restructurings. Clients have included CBS, Twentieth Century Fox, AMC Networks, Riot Games, Cadence Design Systems, Nordstrom, PwC, and Acumen Fund.
Capabilities
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- Emerging Companies / Venture Capital
- Media, Entertainment, and Technology
- Private Equity
- Royalty Finance
Credentials
Education:
- New York University - 2004 Juris Doctor
- Princeton University - 2001 Bachelor of Arts
Admissions:
- California Bar
- New York Bar
Clerkships:
- Delaware Court of Chancery, Hon. William B. Chandler III, 2005 - 2006