Mr. Gossels is a Managing Director in Houlihan Lokey’s Technology Group and co-leads the firm’s digital media team. He is based in the firm’s New York office.
Recent clients include Play Magnus on its sale to Chess.com; Chess.com on its sale to General Atlantic; Jukin on its sale to Trusted Media Brands; VIX on its sale to Univision; The Second City on its sale to ZMC; Machine Zone on its sale to AppLovin; Vertical Networks on its sale to Whistle; Parcast on its sale to Spotify; SheKnows on its sale to Penske Media; Whistle Sports on its capital raise from Aser; Slacker on its sale to LivexLive; and PlayNetwork on its sale to TouchTunes.
Mr. Gossels joined Houlihan Lokey in 2015 through the acquisition of his prior firm, MESA, a merchant bank and advisory firm specializing in digital and traditional media transactions, where he served as a Managing Director and Head of Digital Media. As one of MESA’s five partners, his M&A clients included Songza on its sale to Google; Viacom on the spinoff of game assets Addicting Games/Shockwave to Defy Media; MOG on its sale to Beats by Dre; Grab on its sale to Blinkx; and Metrolyrics on its sale to CBS. Before MESA, Mr. Gossels was a Partner in the media practice at Montgomery & Co. and sector head for online entertainment, games, publishing, and social media. While there, his M&A clients included Club Penguin on its sale to Disney; DailyCandy on its sale to Comcast; UGO on its sale to Hearst; Grouper on its sale to Sony; iFilm on its sale to Viacom; and eCRUSH on its sale to Hearst.
Prior to Montgomery & Co., Mr. Gossels was President and Chief Operating Officer of Hypnotic, where he played a central role in building the company into a leading digital media, film, and television company. Hypnotic’s film, TV, and branded entertainment credits included The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, The O.C., Cry Wolf, and Terry Tate: Office Linebacker. Before Hypnotic, Mr. Gossels was an investment banker at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corp. (DLJ), where he worked on M&A, high-yield, and equity (IPO) transactions principally in the media space.
Mr. Gossels holds a B.A. from Brown University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.