This image was lost some time after publication.

Today's Variety looks at ICM's failure to "energize" itself by turning the recent $100 million investment it received from investors back in October into some kind of concrete display of a new direction, like the acquisition of another agency or the purchase of solid-gold robot assistants for its partners, and notes that the massive cash-pile hasn't stemmed the loss of bigshot agents like Chris Andrews, who defected to CAA recently. As if the Agency Death Star needed an excuse to turn a rival's employee over to the Darker Side, an ex-ICMer explains why this poach could hurt a little:

One ex-ICM agent said, "There was plenty of incentive for CAA to raise his salary, down to his familiarity with [ICM president Ed Limato's] clients, which CAA will be after, if and when Ed should ever decide to retire."

With this new hire in the fold, CAA could become restless and not have the patience to wait for Limato to step down on his own and decide to help him along in the "retirement" process. Should the ICM honcho, say, meet a tragic end by eating a crushed-glass salad at the Grill, they now have a guy they can send to work grieving clients at the funeral without seeming too tacky or suspicious.