Bill Simmons(II)

Bill Simmons runs The Ringer and serves as Head of Talk for Spotify. He's also the co-creator of "30 for 30," the creator of the "Music Box" HBO series and an EP for 'Mr. McMahon' on Netflix and 'Celtics City' for HBO. Simmons rose to prominence at ESPN as the country's most popular sportswriter, influencing an entire generation of journalists at ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. He also wrote 2 best-selling books, 2004's Now I Can Die in Peace and 2009's The Book of Basketball (a #1 New York Times Best-Seller). In 2007, Simmons launched one of the biggest podcasts in the world as well as the first signature sports podcast. He also came up with the idea for the documentary series "30 for 30" and became co-creator and Exec. Producer of the much-beloved series, eventually winning a Peabody Award and a Primetime Emmy for '30 for 30 Shorts.' In 2011, Simmons created Grantland, a beloved sports and pop culture website that became its own digital studio for ESPN. Simmons also created The Grantland Basketball Hour and co-hosted ESPN's NBA Countdown for two years. In 2015, he left ESPN and launched his own multimedia company, The Ringer, which quickly became a leading voice in sports and culture and spawned Ringer Films and Ringer Books as well. Simmons sold The Ringer to Spotify in 2020 for $250 million, but still hosts the most downloaded sports podcast ever as well as The Rewatchables (the biggest movie podcast). Simmons also created and hosted 'Any Given Wednesday' for HBO and produced over 20 documentaries for them, including 'Andre the Giant' and 'Yacht Rock.' In 2025 Simmons also become the Head of Talk for Spotify, where he hosts his 2 podcasts and runs The Ringer as well.