# Focus Financial moves to buy ML Management Partners, a New York firm serving film and TV talent

URL: https://www.financialadvsr.com/article/focus-financial-moves-to-buy-ml-management-partners-a-new-york-firm-serving-9c87a0
Published: November 10, 2026
By: Vivian Cole, Deals Correspondent
Section: Deals
Publisher: Financial ADVSR (https://www.financialadvsr.com)

InvestmentNews reported that Focus Financial Partners is buying ML Management Partners, a New York business manager serving film and television talent. Terms were not in the material reviewed.

InvestmentNews reported that Focus Financial Partners is buying ML Management Partners, a business management firm that serves film and television talent from New York, with a Los Angeles office. The InvestmentNews summary describes the deal as an addition to Focus's business management bench. A Focus press release listed on the company's newsroom and dated November 6, 2026 presents the acquisition as an expansion of Focus's business management offering. The full text of that release was not available for this article, so the price, deal terms and ML's assets under management are not reported here.

ML Management Partners is based in New York and has a satellite office in Los Angeles, according to the firm's website. According to the website, the firm employs 40 people and serves well over 100 clients across performing and writing careers. It lists business management, tax and accounting, and wealth management among its services. A LinkedIn company profile lists 1988 as the founding year and describes the firm as privately held.

The firm's website lists Mark Landesman as founder and president, Paul Zukowsky and Scott Landesman as partners, and Eric Binder as a partner in the Los Angeles office. Variety's 2025 list of business managers names Jessica Mooney as chief operating officer. The Hollywood Reporter named Mark Landesman its 2023 Business Manager Icon and profiled him as having started ML after working as the accountant on Eddie Murphy's 1986 Rawtour.

Focus describes itself on LinkedIn as a financial services firm that combines wealth management, family office and business management services. The LinkedIn profile says that as of January 1, 2026, Focus collectively had more than $500 billion in advised assets, a figure that measures assets advised rather than the price of any deal. Focus's About page says the company has more than 20 years of experience and over 300 completed transactions. Michael Nathanson is listed as CEO of Focus Financial Partners in a Business Wire release from May 2025, and Adam Birenbaum was named CEO of Focus Partners Wealth effective February 1, 2026, according to the same release.

The ML deal extends a Hollywood-focused push that Focus began earlier. Yahoo Entertainment coverage reported that Focus bought Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman in 2017 and NKSFB in 2018, when NKSFB had 375 employees. The Los Angeles Business Journal reported that Focus had grown NKSFB to 565 employees. Variety's 2025 list says Focus had also bought the boutiques David Weise & Associates, Neuman + Associates, CRM Management and Ross Bennet Smith, although the entry does not give dates for each. In May 2025 Focus Partners Wealth announced it would acquire Churchill Management, with an expected close in the third quarter of 2025. RIA Biz reported that Churchill had $10.1 billion in assets as of April 23, 2025, according to its SEC Form ADV, and a $9.4 billion deal value.

The sources reviewed do not say whether the ML acquisition has closed, what it cost, or how much client money ML manages, so those points remain open until Focus or InvestmentNews provides them. The full text of the November 6 release is the most likely place to find the deal terms and any details on how ML's team will fit within Focus's business management group.

Key facts:
- Focus's newsroom lists a press release dated November 6, 2026 announcing the acquisition of ML Management Partners.
- ML Management Partners is based in New York with a satellite office in Los Angeles, according to its website.
- According to the firm's website, 40 people work there and its client roster numbers more than 100 people in the entertainment industry.
- A LinkedIn company profile lists 1988 as ML Management's founding year.
- Focus said that as of January 1, 2026 it collectively had more than $500 billion in advised assets.

Why it matters: Business managers handle the finances of clients whose income is irregular and often tied to a few large contracts, so specialist firms in this niche have typically been valued for their client relationships and sector knowledge. For advisors and firm leaders, the deal shows an aggregator continuing to build a specialist bench in entertainment rather than relying only on generalist wealth management acquisitions.

Firms in this story, from their SEC Form ADV filings:
- Focus Partners Wealth (St. Louis, MO; SEC CRD 159289): $182B regulatory assets under management, 62,466 clients, 1,025 advisory staff, 113 offices, custodians Charles Schwab, Fidelity; Form ADV filed 2026-09-29. https://www.financialadvsr.com/rias/focus-partners-wealth-llc

Sources:
- InvestmentNews: https://www.investmentnews.com/ria-news/focus-financial-buys-entertainment-business-manager-ml-management/268955
- corporate.focuspartners.com: https://corporate.focuspartners.com/news/media-press
- variety.com: https://variety.com/lists/varietys-business-managers-elite-of-2025/
- yahoo.com: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/hollywood-business-management-firms-face-144543711.html
- labusinessjournal.com: https://labusinessjournal.com/media/hollywood-biz-managers-rally/
- tracxn.com: https://tracxn.com/d/acquisitions/acquisitions-by-focus-financial-partners/___l3n5EamuUSgzMF4M3i2U4nVgXVJzwYYdAsYMSHapK4
- riabiz.com: https://riabiz.com/a/2025/6/4/focus-financial-breaks-deal-drought-and-kills-off-hub-talk-by-merging-10-billion-west-coast-acquisition-with-175-billion-boston-unit