David Hernand

David Hernand is a Partner in Simpson Thacher’s Mergers and Acquisitions Practice. Based in the Firm’s Los Angeles office, David advises a wide variety of clients on complex, high-profile transactions in the entertainment, media and technology industries, including companies, boards of directors and special committees, private equity and venture capital firms and high net worth individuals and families. David also counsels clients with interests across the consumer and retail space. He advises on the full spectrum of corporate transactions, including public and private M&A, corporate control contests, strategic partnerships and joint ventures, public and private capital raising deals and other general corporate matters.

Notable experience prior to joining Simpson Thacher includes representing:

• Clarion Capital in acquiring Vin Di Bona Productions and other entertainment assets
• Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery in the sale of The CW to Nexstar
• Fox Corporation’s acquisition of Mar Vista Studios and Bento Box Entertainment
• Sale of publicly traded software company QAD to Thoma Bravo for $2 billion
• Sale of a majority stake of influencer management company Underscore Talent to global digital media publisher TheSoul Publishing
• Sale of short-form digital media publisher Jukin Media to Trusted Media Brands
• Global real estate brokerage The Agency in its acquisition of tech-enabled brokerage Triplemint
• Morgan Stanley and LionTree, as financial advisors to MGM in Amazon’s $8.45 billion acquisition of MGM
• Netmarble in the $1.2 billion de-SPAC acquisition of Jam City by DPCM Capital
• HYBE in its $1 billion acquisition of Ithaca Holdings
• Castle & Cooke in its $2 billion sale of Dole Food Company to Total Produce and subsequent IPO
• Colony Capital in its $3.4 billion acquisition of 90% of data center assets of Vantage Data Centers
• Freedom Acquisition I Corp, a publicly traded SPAC, in its $900 million combination with Complete Solaria
• Digital Transformation Opportunities Corp., a publicly traded SPAC, in its combination with American Oncology Network
• Romeo Power’s $1.3 billion de-SPAC acquisition by RMG Acquisition Corp. (SPAC)
• Walmart in its sale of streaming media service Vudu to NBCU
• Leading podcast creator Parcast in its sale to Spotify
• Morgan Stanley as financial advisor to Regal Cinema in Cineworld’s $3.6 billion acquisition of Regal Cinema
• Dick Clark Productions in its $1 billion sale to Dalian Wanda Group
• Fosun International in its $1.4 billion acquisition with TPG of Cirque du Soleil
• Shaquille O'Neal in the sale of rights to Authentic Brands Group
• Nordstrom in its $350 million acquisition of TrunkClub and $270 million acquisition of HauteLook
• DreamWorks Animation in its $150 million acquisition of AwesomenessTV and separate acquisition of Big Frame
• Madison Tyler Holdings in its combination with Virtu Financial and investment by Silver Lake Partners
• Baldor Electric in its $3.1 billion acquisition by ABB
• Playdom in its $763 million acquisition by Disney
• Goldman Sachs as financial advisor in EBay’s sale of 65% of Skype to a private equity consortium
• William Morris in its merger with Endeavor
• URS Corporation in the $2.6 billion acquisition of Washington Group
• Morgan Stanley, as financial advisor in the $3.4 billion merger of Molson and Coors
• Club Penguin in its $700 million sale to Disney

David is consistently recognized as a leading dealmaker by Chambers USA, The Legal 500 and IFLR1000. He was also highlighted in Variety’s “Legal Impact Report” from 2016-2022 and was named one of the “Top 100 Lawyers in California” by the Daily Journal. He has been recognized by The Hollywood Reporter as a top 100 “Power Lawyer” and as one of Hollywood’s top 20 dealmakers.

David received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1992 and his B.A. from University of California, Los Angeles in 1989. He is a member of the Mergers and Acquisitions Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association. He also currently serves on the board of The Painted Turtle, a charity operating a summer camp for chronically ill children. He is admitted to practice in California.