Live Nation’s new creator company has made its first big hire. According to Deadline‘s Matt Grobar, Creator Nation has named Alicia Zhu as its Chief Operating Officer, a move that puts a dealmaker in charge of the money side just as the company gets ready to start buying creator-management firms.
Who Alicia Zhu is
Zhu’s appointment took effect on Monday, November 9, and it is Creator Nation’s first executive hire. In the role, she oversees financial operations, strategic initiatives and mergers and acquisitions as the company builds out its portfolio of creator-focused businesses.
She comes from Shamrock Capital, where she spent seven years focused on investments in the creator economy and marketing services, working with management teams to grow their businesses. Before joining Shamrock in 2019, she worked in corporate strategy at The Walt Disney Company, where her focus was M&A and long-term planning. She graduated cum laude from Harvard University and earned her MBA with honors from Harvard Business School.
“Creators are building businesses that extend far beyond a single platform or revenue stream,” Zhu told Deadline. “To grow those businesses sustainably, they need capital, operating expertise and the right partnerships.”
Co-founder and president Scott Fisher said the company “is being built for the next generation of creator-led businesses,” adding that Zhu “has a strong track record of partnering with management teams, identifying growth opportunities and helping businesses scale.”
What Creator Nation is building
Creator Nation launched in October, led by co-founders Scott and Alexis Fisher, with Live Nation as its “capital partner and strategic backer.” As Music Business Worldwide‘s Rafaela Fornitani reported, the plan is to buy and grow creator-management firms plus what Live Nation calls “adjacent businesses,” with the first acquisitions expected “in the coming months.” The company will also work directly with brands and marketers on partnerships and campaigns.
Both founders know the management business. Scott Fisher founded Select Management Group, which Propagate Content fully acquired in 2025, and which represents more than 500 creators with a combined audience of over one billion, according to Live Nation. Alexis Fisher founded Timeline Management, in which Live Nation took a majority stake in December 2024. Timeline still runs separately from Creator Nation.
When the company launched, The Hollywood Reporter‘s Alex Weprin reported that Live Nation is providing both financial and logistical support, with live experiences seen as one of the big growth areas for creators. Alexis Fisher compared the company’s services to a restaurant menu, where a creator picks only what they need help with.
Why it matters for creators
Live Nation is the biggest name in concerts and ticketing, and it is now putting real money and a seasoned M&A executive behind the business of managing online talent. For creators, that could mean more paths from a phone screen to tours, live shows, brand deals and products. It also means the management world is consolidating, so the firm a creator signs with today could have a much bigger parent company tomorrow.
The takeaway: Hiring a COO whose job is mergers and acquisitions is a clear signal that Creator Nation’s shopping spree is close. Creators and their managers should watch which firms get bought first, and what that changes in their contracts and opportunities.
