Scott Samuel "Scooter"Braun (/brɔːn/BRAWN; born June 18, 1981) is an American businessman, record executive, and formertalent manager serving since 2023 as chief executive officer (CEO) ofHybe America, the North American branch of South Korean entertainment companyHybe Corporation.[4][5][6] He is credited with having discovered Canadian singerJustin Bieber in 2008, whose success foresaw the establishment of Braun's record labelRBMG Records, a joint venture with R&B singerUsher. Braun has also served in career management for artists includingAriana Grande,Kanye West,Demi Lovato,J Balvin,Ozuna,Dan + Shay, andthe Kid Laroi, among others.[7][8] He retired from artist management in 2024.[9]
Braun was born in New York City toConservative Jewish parents, Ervin and Susan (née Schlussel) Braun.[15][16] Following theHolocaust,[17] Ervin's parents lived in Hungary until 1956, when they immigrated to the United States. Ervin grew up inQueens, and became a dentist and high-school basketball coach; Susan Schlussel Braun was anorthodontist.[18] After the couple married, they settled inCos Cob, Connecticut.[19]
Braun has four siblings. He attendedGreenwich High School, where he was elected class president.[16] Braun attendedEmory University in Atlanta, where he played college basketball until his sophomore year.[19] He dropped out of college in his junior year.[20][21][22]
Braun began organizing parties while studying at Emory University.[16][23] In 2002, Braun was hired to planafter-parties in each of the five cities on theAnger Management Tour, which featuredLudacris andEminem.[16] He subsequently met Jermaine Dupri, the founder ofSo So Def Records, who offered him a job as So So Def's executive director of marketing.[24] Events organized by Braun in this era included parties for the2003 NBA All-Star Game and after-parties forBritney Spears' 2004Onyx Hotel Tour.[16][25] Braun left So So Def[20] in 2005, and a few weeks later brokered a $12 million campaign deal between Ludacris andPontiac. After the Pontiac deal, Braun was hired as an entertainment consultant for theAtlanta Hawks.[16]
In 2008, Braun scouted Bieber, then 13, after accidentally clicking on aYouTube video of Bieber singing. Braun urged Bieber's mother,Pattie Mallette, to bring her son to Atlanta to record demos and meetUsher. He eventually convinced them to move permanently from Canada to the United States. BothUsher andJustin Timberlake expressed interest in signing Bieber, who ultimately signed withIsland Def Jam in partnership withRaymond-Braun Media Group (RBMG).[26][27] Braun signedAriana Grande to his management label in 2013.
Braun producedNever Say Never, a documentary about Bieber that MTV reported in 2011 as "one of the highest grossing music documentaries in domestic box-office history".[30] The film's budget was $13 million and earned over $100 million worldwide.[31] Braun was the executive producer ofBurden,Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil,The Giver,The Boy from Medellin, andProject Runway among others.[18] Braun was also an executive producer for theCBS dramaScorpion, which aired from 2014 until 2018.[32] In 2018,Variety reported thatFX had ordered a pilot ofDave, a comedy executive-produced by Braun that included actor Kevin Hart and rapper Lil Dicky.[33] In its first season,Dave was the most-watched show in FX history.[14][34] In July 2019, SB Projects signed afirst-look deal withAmazon Studios that included television and film scripts.[35] Braun's SB Projects has also had film and television projects at Netflix,Hulu, and Fox.[35]
In 2007, Braun established SB Projects, an entertainment and marketing company that encompassed ventures including Schoolboy Records, SB Management, and Sheba Publishing, a music publishing firm.[36][37] The group also included RBMG, a joint venture between Braun and Usher. School Boy Records was founded as a joint venture withUniversal Music Publishing Group. In early 2013, Braun signedAriana Grande.[38][39] As of August 2023, Braun no longer managed Grande, Lovato, andIdina Menzel.[40][41][42][43][44][45]
SB Projects has handled television campaigns, branding, music-licensing deals, and tour sponsorships, including Bieber'sCalvin Klein endorsement for the 2016-2017Purpose World Tour.[46] The company also brokered a partnership betweenKanye West and sneaker brandAdidas.[47][48]
Braun (left) onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2019 with Matthew "NadeShot" Haag and TechCrunch Editor Jordon Crook
Ithaca Holdings, Braun's holding company that includes SB Projects, raised $120 million in venture capital in 2010.[2][49] Media reported that Ithaca, with $500 million under management as of 2018, financed GoodStory Entertainment, a collaboration between Braun and entertainment executiveJ. D. Roth, to acquire live event content, unscripted programming, and documentary films.[50][51]
In 2019, Ithaca acquiredBig Machine Label Group in a purchase that included the masters to the first six albums of singer-songwriterTaylor Swift.[52] The purchase resulted ina public denouncement fromTaylor Swift regarding the transfer of ownership of Big Machine albummasters. As a minority shareholder in Ithaca, the label's founderScott Borchetta remained with the company as its CEO.[53][54] In 2020, Ithaca Holdings sold the album masters toShamrock Holdings for a reported $405 million, earning Ithaca $265 million.[55][56] As of 2023, Braun had netted nearly $400 million from the Big Machine deal.[56]
In April 2021, South Korean companyHybe announced that it would acquire Ithaca Holdings via the subsidiary Hybe America in a deal estimated to be around $1.05 billion.[4] As part of the sale, Braun became Hybe America's CEO and joined Hybe's board of directors. Long-time staffers were gifted $50 million in stock from Braun's personal allotment, with artists Bieber and Grande receiving $10 million each.[57][58][59] On May 31, 2022, Braun met withBTS and US PresidentJoe Biden at theWhite House to discuss the recent rise in anti-Asian hate crimes.[60] Braun and Clive Davis presented Hybe's Chairman Bang Si-Hyuk with the Visionary award at Billboard's Power 100 Party in 2023.[61]
In 2023, Hybe acquiredQuality Control Music for $300 million, with Kevin “Coach K” Lee and Pierre “P” Thomas maintaining control of the label under Braun.[62]
Braun was named the sole CEO of Hybe's American division in January 2023.[63] In 2023, Braun oversaw Hybe's cash and stock purchase of the Atlanta-based hip-hop level Quality Control Music for $300 million, with Kevin “Coach K” Lee and Pierre “P” Thomas maintaining control of the label under Braun.[63]
The 2019 purchase ofBig Machine Records by Ithaca resulted ina publicized dispute withTaylor Swift regarding the ownership of the Big Machine albummasters. Swift condemned Ithaca's purchase,[64] and denied the claims by Big Machine's former president, Scott Borchetta, who said that Swift declined an opportunity to buy the masters.[65] According to a May 2020 email, Braun expressed an openness to selling the master recordings back to Swift.[66]
In 2018,The New York Times reported that Braun had joinedDavid Maisel, founding chairman of Marvel Studios to form Mythos Studios to produce comic book movie franchises in live-action and animated formats.[67][68][69]
Braun is a partner in the investment firm TQ Ventures.[70][71] He was an early investor in Uber, Spotify, Waze, DropBox,Pinterest, Lyft, Ro, Noom, Liquid I.V., among others.[72] The acquisition of holdings company, Ithaca, brought Braun's net worth beyond $1 billion in 2021.[73]
In 2012, Braun was awarded anACLU Bill of Rights award.[74]In 2013, Braun was included in the annualTime 100 list of the most influential people in the world.[75] He also appeared a second time on the cover ofBillboard in its April 20, 2013, issue, alongsideGuy Oseary andTroy Carter.[76]
In 2018, Braun received the Harry Chapin Memorial Humanitarian Award for his philanthropic efforts in 2017.[79] He also received theSave the Children's Humanitarian Award that year.[80]
ln 2019 he was inducted into theMidem Hall of Fame.[81] In 2020,Fortune named him to its "40 Under 40" list in media and entertainment.[82][83] In 2021, Braun was namedVariety magazine's "Music Mogul of the Year."[84] In 2024, Braun was honored by theAnti-Defamation League for his role in theNova Festival Exhibit in New York City.[85]
Braun is a supporter of Israel.[90] In December 2023, Braun spoke at a rally in Tel Aviv'sHostages Square,[91] and featured the mother of an Israeli hostage in a video posted to his Instagram calling for the music industry to spread awareness on the issue.[92]
Braun is involved in various charities including the Braun Family Foundation.[93][94][95] He also assists with his brother Adam's charity, Pencils of Promise.[96]Billboard reported that as of 2017, Braun—along with his then-clients and companies—had granted more wishes for theMake-A-Wish Foundation than any other organization in the history of the foundation.[97] He received the Humanitarian Award at the 2016 Billboard Touring Awards for his philanthropic support of Pencils of Promise, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and Fuck Cancer.[98] Braun and actorGeorge Clooney held significant roles inMarch for Our Lives and aided in fundraising efforts behind the scenes. In 2017, Braun was an organizer ofHand in Hand, a telethon which raised $55 million for relief efforts related toHurricane Harvey andHurricane Irma.[12]
Braun coordinated the charity single, "Stuck with U" by Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, which benefitted the First Responders Children's Foundation to fund grants and scholarships for children of first responders and health care workers that worked on the front lines during the pandemic.[99] In 2023, Braun joined the board of directors of theMake-A-Wish Foundation.[100]
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