Najafi Companies

About Najafi Companies

Najafi Companies is a private investment firm in Phoenix, Arizona, founded by Jahm Najafi in 2002, with holdings in consumer goods, retail, e-commerce, sport, media and technology.^[1] It is not a fund: it invests internally generated capital and concentrates on a few holdings instead of diversifying, so it owes no capital to outside partners.^[2] Jahm Najafi has been its founder, chief executive and owner since 2002, so the firm is held by an individual and has no company above it.^[3] Its media investments have included Cinram, the optical-disc manufacturer whose North American and European operations it bought in 2012 and 2013,^[2] and STX Entertainment.^[4]

The firm has its head office in Phoenix and offices in New York and Paris.^[1] Its newly formed affiliate Cinram Group, Inc. closed the purchase of Cinram's North American operations in late 2012 and of the same group's European operations on 31 January 2013; the entertainment holdings named alongside Cinram at that closing were Direct Brands, Inc., one of the largest direct-to-consumer distributors of music, DVD and book-club media in the United States, and DirectGroup France.^[2] In December 2021 Eros STX Global Corporation agreed to sell its STX Entertainment subsidiary to a Najafi affiliate for $173 million at closing.^[4] The firm also stands behind Mission Advancement Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company floated in 2021 with Jahm Najafi as chief executive and co-chairman and Colin Kaepernick as co-chairman, whose sponsor's managing member, MAC Holdings 1220, LLC, is an affiliate of the firm.^[3] A 2016 Apollo Education Group merger filing names the firm as Najafi Companies, LLC, a potential co-investor in the take-private of the owner of the University of Phoenix.^[5] The firm's own list of investments places StubHub, Book of the Month, X Games and MSP Sports Capital among its current holdings and Cinram, Columbia House, Network Solutions and Classic Vacations among its historical ones.^[1]