Alex Cooper Poised to Part Ways With UTA as Unwell Lands $500 Million Valuation
Alex Cooper is preparing to drop her talent agency UTA, according to a person familiar with the matter, a move that would end a partnership that helped build her production company into a half-billion-dollar business.
Variety reported the development on 16 August 2026. UTA helped Cooper scale Unwell, the production company she founded with her husband Matt Kaplan, and brokered deals including her hosting interviews for Peacock during NBCUniversal's coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics. UTA declined to make executives available for comment.
The agency split comes days after a milestone for Unwell. On 12 August, the company announced its first outside investor: Patrick Whitesell, co-founder of rival agency WME and former executive chairman of Endeavor. His investment firm WTSL put in an undisclosed sum at a valuation of $500 million. Cooper and Kaplan retain a majority ownership stake.
Unwell, formed in 2023, says it has been profitable from day one and views the WTSL investment as growth capital — money to expand rather than survival funding.
The business moves land against a turbulent stretch for Cooper's brand. On 14 August, Page Six and the Los Angeles Times reported that Unwell Beverages, her drink line, will shut down in autumn 2026, less than two years after launch. The closure came amid what Page Six described as a year of backlash.
Workplace allegations have also shadowed the company. In June, Vanity Fair reported claims of a toxic environment at Unwell, including a freelancer alleging that Kaplan "creates the most toxic work environment that I've ever seen," and anonymous sources saying he questioned employees about their sex lives and commented on their physical appearance. In April, Bloomberg reported that Kaplan had a reputation for frequently yelling at staff and that Unwell employees were "looking for the exit."
Cooper, in a June interview at Cannes Lions with the Wall Street Journal, addressed the allegations: "Don't believe everything that you read on the internet."
Cooper rose to prominence as host of "Call Her Daddy," the podcast she moved from Spotify to SiriusXM under a multiyear deal worth up to $125 million, as reported by Variety in August 2024. She launched the Unwell Network in 2023, a platform for young creators that initially included names like Alix Earle and Madeline Argy, according to UTA and Deadline.
What gives the agency split its edge is the timing. Unwell has just secured outside capital at a nine-figure valuation and is positioning itself for growth, while its founder's broader commercial footprint — a beverage line closing, a creator network under scrutiny, workplace allegations unanswered — tells a more complicated story. Whether Cooper signs with another agency or goes without representation has not been reported.
