Justin Bieber and Scooter Braun’s story was a classic music industry fairytale: An ambitious young manager plucks a young prodigy out of obscurity and makes him a star. Their lives and careers have been intertwined for nearly two decades, with their names and careers synonymous with one another well beyond most artist-manager relationships. Thee wasn’t a project Bieber pursued, music or otherwise, that Braun wasn’t involved in, while each of Braun’s clients outside of Bieber would get a direct boost from one of the 21st century’s biggest stars.
But that close relationship seems to have dissolved over the years, due to a quiet and still-mysterious rift that has allegedly cut not only their professional ties but their friendship as well. Over the last few years, reports have emerged with conflicting claims of financial and personal woes, though neither party has confirmed or directly denied the tension.
Still, their relationship has always been bumpier than either likely hoped. Here’s a look back at everything that has happened between the two of them over the years, from YouTube to Grammys to mugshots and more.
2007-2008: Scooter Braun Discovers Justin Bieber
Braun had created his company SB Projects in 2007 with the goal of signing three acts: a white rapper (Asher Roth), a girl group, and a young kid who “could do it like Michael Jackson,” according to Billboard. One night, he was watching YouTube videos of an act Akon had been working with when he stumbled upon Bieber’s YouTube channel. “The kid [Akon had signed] was singing Aretha Franklin’s ‘Respect,’ and there was a related video of Justin singing the same song,” Braun recalled. “I clicked on it, thinking it was the same kid and realized that the 20-year-old I was watching was now 12.” Braun tracked down Bieber’s mother, Pattie Mallette, and convinced her to fly to Atlanta with Bieber for a meeting. After Mallette prayed with leaders of her church, she decided that her son should sign a management deal with Braun.
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July 2008: Bieber Signs to Braun and Usher’s label
Usher passed on Bieber when they first crossed paths during the pre-teen’s initial Atlanta visit, but he changed his mind when he saw more videos of him performing. Justin Timberlake also expressed interest and there was a brief battle between the two, but Bieber ultimately signed to Usher and Braun’s Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG Records). L.A. Reid, who signed Usher when the singer was 14, would later sign Bieber to Island Def Jam Music Group in a 360 deal, with a 50-50 profit split with RBMG, according to The New Yorker.
2009: Bieber Launches Pop Career
On May 18, Bieber released his first single, “One Time,” which peaked at Number 17 on the Hot 100. Bieber’s ascent was swift, and Braun was by his side every step of the way. Their lives are so intertwined that even Braun’s mother did the teen’s orthodontic work. Around this time, Braun also set up a meeting between Bieber and his celebrity crush, Selena Gomez, having called her mom on his client’s behalf. In November, Bieber’s first EP My World features Braun’s first executive producer credit on a Bieber release and opening spots on Taylor Swift’s Fearless world tour. The EP debuted at Number Six on the Billboard 200.
November 2009: Long Island Mall Chaos
Naturally, Bieber’s success was spurred by a devoted and intense fanbase of young girls. He started doing autograph signings and fan events, like the one his team scheduled at Roosevelt Field Mall on Long Island a few days after the release of My World. Three thousand fans showed up at the mall, and the size of the crowd caused the Nassau County police to cancel the event before the pop star even arrived.
The police requested that Bieber formally announce the cancellation, reaching out to Island Def Jam senior VP James Roppo who could not get in contact with Braun or Bieber. The crowd left about 15 minutes after Braun finally tweeted that the event was canceled, but not without a handful of injuries among the fans. This led to police holding Roppo overnight on multiple misdemeanor charges. In March 2010, Braun turned himself in and was arrested over the mall mob incident. This would launch a year-long court battle, which ended in a plea bargain, with Bieber ordered to make a PSA about cyberbullying and sexting. Island Def Jam paid a fine and Braun’s record was cleared.
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2010-2011: Further Mainstream Success
Bieber released the single “Baby,” which debuted at Number Five on the Hot 100. Ludacris, an old friend of Braun’s, was featured on the song. Bieber’s debut album was released just days after the teen turned 16. He would become the youngest male artist to top the Billboard 200 since Stevie Wonder in 1963. Braun later negotiated deals for a 3D movie about Bieber with Paramount Pictures, as well as a memoir with HarperCollins. When the documentary Never Say Never came out in early 2011, the film made nearly $30 million opening weekend. But the movie was panned, with critics specifically taking issue with Braun’s “intense” presence in the feature on his client’s life story.
2012: Bieber Grows Up (Kind Of)
In March 2012, Bieber turned 18. He began getting marketed as a more adult pop star. His album Believe, released a few months later, featured a number of pop and EDM heavyweights: Max Martin, Diplo, Zedd. Braun co-wrote the bonus track “Maria,” about a woman who claimed Bieber fathered her child.
Bieber became more involved with Braun’s business pursuits, both finding and promoting artists signed to SB Projects. He tweeted out a video of then 13-year-old Madison Beer singing “At Last.” This caused Beer to blow up and Braun to eventually sign her. Bieber later took Braun’s other signees Carly Rae Jepsen, Ariana Grande, the Wanted and Cody Simpson on tour with him.
2013: Bieber’s Public Struggles Begin
In January 2013, Bieber and Braun encountered the pop star’s first true scandal when TMZ published photos of Bieber and his friend Lil Twist smoking blunts. Bieber later posted on Twitter and said that he was “growing and learning.” In the days after, reports circulated that sources close to the pair believed Twist was a “bad influence” on Bieber. In 2022, Lil Twist told Business Insider that he believed Braun had planted negative stories about Twist to deflect from his own involvement in Bieber’s public spiral. Braun’s lawyer denied these claims and called Twist a “demonstrably unreliable source.”
But the weed photos were just the beginning of a catastrophic year for Bieber’s public image. A neighbor accused the teen of spitting on him during an argument over the star’s constant house parties and reckless driving. Later, during a visit to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam, he left a questionable message in the guest book: “Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber.” Braun, whose grandmother survived the Holocaust, defended Bieber, calling people’s reactions “atrocious and insulting.”
As the year waned on, Bieber continued making headlines. TMZ shared video footage of the star peeing in a mop bucket while exiting a club and later spraying cleaning fluid on a picture of Bill Clinton. He continued to upset his neighbors who call the police on him for speeding. Lil Twist is later arrested for driving under the influence in a car Braun bought for Bieber and then accused of battery by a woman for a incident that occurred in Bieber’s home.
Reports emerged by the summer that Braun not only wanted Bieber to go to rehab but also to stop spending time with Lil Twist. “Fuck u Scooter and everything u stand for,” Lil Twist would tweet out in November. “It was all planned out …All a set up …Every story.”
January 2014: Bieber Arrested
Bieber smiled his way through a mugshot after being arrested for driving under the influence, resisting arrest and having an expired license in Miami Beach. In response, Braun tweeted his support for Bieber: “Love you and I will act in the manner of someone who truly cares. That is all I have to say. Thanks for all those concerned.”
A couple weeks later, Bieber was arrested again. This time, it was for allegedly hitting a limo driver in the head multiple times. Braun tweeted once more, now asking people not to “assume the worst.”
June 2014: Foul Language
Two videos emerged that month featuring a younger Bieber using the N-word. In one video, he told a foul joke. In the other, he sang his song “One Less Lonely Girl,” replacing “girl” with the same slur. Braun had pleaded with TMZ in 2011 to bury that footage. Usher had come to Bieber’s defense, calling the star “unequivocally not a racist.”
Late 2014: Plea Deals
Bieber’s arrests were resolved later in the year. He ended up taking anger-management classes and paid off his fines
March 2015: Comedy Central’s Justin Bieber Roast
As Bieber’s public downfall began to threaten his pop stardom, his team mounted a comeback. In lieu of a big television or magazine interview, Braun cooked up a celebrity roast, which featured Martha Stewart, Snoop Dogg, Kevin Hart, and more. At the end of the special, Bieber earnestly apologized to the public for what he had done, owning up to his very public and mostly illegal mistakes. It was the perfect act of damage control, allowing the pop star to fall on his sword while giving the public a better taste of his personality.
August 2015: Pop Stardom Back on Track
Leading up to the new single “What Do You Mean?” Bieber had celebrity friends (mostly Braun’s other clients) post photos of themselves holding signs noting the number of days left until Bieber released the song. It became his first song to debut at the top of the Hot 100 and helped launch a successful rollout of his third album Purpose. Purpose, which was released that November, was largely co-written by Poo Bear, another client of Braun’s.
In a New York Times profile of Braun that December, Braun revealed that he had been planning Bieber’s comeback since October 2014 and that he was worried Bieber “could’ve died” if he had continued touring in 2013. “It was far worse than people realize,” he said. “And when he is ready, he will tell what he was going through. But it’s a hard thing to watch someone you care and genuinely love go through that. I’m really, really happy that’s over.”
2016/2017: Trouble in Paradise
Bieber and Braun’s comeback was successful, leading to a massive Purpose tour and a Grammy win for Bieber in the Best Dance Recording category alongside Jack Ü’s Skrillex and Diplo. But the pair hit a road bump after Bieber was reportedly offered a hefty paycheck to perform at a gig associated with the Republican National Convention. Braun had threatened to quit over the performance, which was billed as “not political,” though it was funded by Republican donors, who rejected Braun’s idea to display “Black Lives Matter” signs. Bieber eventually declined the show offer.
By July 2017, Bieber burned out on tour, deciding to cancel the remaining stretch of his Purpose trek. Braun defended his decision saying that “a man’s soul and well-being I truly care about came first.”
2019: Scooter Braun vs. Taylor Swift
Scooter Braun’s music industry ambitions went way further than being a manager. His company Ithaca Holdings acquired Big Machine Records that summer, along with the rights to Swift’s master recordings. Swift spoke out against the acquisition in a Tumblr post, revealing her specific beef with Braun and his “incessant, manipulative bullying.” Braun had been representing Kanye West during the public implosion of West and Swift’s friendship over his song “Famous” and the “revenge porn music video” the rapper released, featuring naked mannequins of Swift and other celebrities.
Her post featured a screenshot of an Instagram post shared by Bieber’s featuring him on FaceTime with Braun and West with the caption “Taylor swift what’s up.” Bieber responded on Instagram a couple days later, sharing an apology to Swift for the previous post while defending Braun from the influx of hate he received from Swift’s fans. “I usually don’t rebuttal things like this but when you try and deface someone i loves character thats crossing a line,” he wrote.
Swift would later announce that she would re-record her first six albums in an effort to devalue the Big Machine recordings. By the end of the year, Braun had signed Demi Lovato as his new client while Bieber had married his girlfriend Hailey Baldwin.
2020: More Changes
Following the beginning of Braun and Swift’s many years’ long feud, Bieber geared up for a new album reflecting his more mature married life. At a press event for his album Changes, he tearfully thanked Braun. “You walked with me through a lot of shit,” he said. “I feel like God’s brought me out of a really dark place.”
In a docuseries called Seasons, the Biebers showcase their newlywed life while Bieber dove into some of his health struggles, including Lyme disease and addiction. Changes would end up topping to Billboard 200 in February.
Bieber continued to be musically active during the Covid-19 pandemic, releasing a charity single with Ariana Grande called “Stuck With U,” which featured a co-writing credit from Braun. Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine accused the pair of beefing up the numbers to debut at Number One.
Bieber and Braun later starred in the video for Drake and DJ Khaled’s hit “Popstar.” Braun then implemented a new strategy for Bieber’s Changes follow-up Justice, where he released a new single every month leading up to the album’s announcement. The singles were all Top 20 hits and featured artists like Chance the Rapper, Benny Blanco, and Shawn Mendes.
At the end of the year, Braun sold the master rights of Swift’s first six albums to private equity group Shamrock Holdings, though Swift would later reveal that Braun would still profit off her old musical catalog for years to come. Swift soon began re-recording her music.
2021: Justice and More Business Moves
Bieber’s fifth album Justice debuted at Number One in March 2021. A month later, BTS’s management company HYBE acquired Ithaca Holdings and SB Projects in a billion dollar deal. Bieber and Grande’s shares in SB Projects meant that they each received about $10 million from the deal. Braun later became co-CEO of HYBE America.
Braun continued to have success as a manager at this time, signing Australia’s the Kid Laroi. His single “Stay” featured Bieber and was a Top 10 hit.
2022: An Exposé on Braun
Business Insider published a scathing report on Braun. It added more context to Swift’s beef with Braun owning her music, claiming that the manager had overstepped in the relationship between Bieber and Swift’s best friend Selena Gomez. Braun’s lawyer denied this.
2023: The Rift Deepens
In a massive deal, Bieber sold his publishing rights and master royalties to Hipgnosis for $200 million. That same month, Braun became the sole CEO of HYBE America after his co-CEO left the company. Around the pop star’s 29th birthday, he called off 100 dates of his Justice tour due to his health.
By the end of summer, reports began swirling that Bieber and Braun had stopped speaking and that the singer was seeking out new management. Puck claimed that Bieber had been doing a “house-cleaning” of his team, having replaced his agent and business manager, among other members. A statement from Bieber’s rep denied that he and Braun were on the outs though Puck pushed back on the claims saying it was a “face-saving favor.” More reports claimed that Hailey Bieber had overhauled the business side of Bieber’s career and had become a more vocal part of his meetings.
Within a few weeks, multiple clients of Braun’s depart SB, including J Balvin, Demi Lovato, Idina Menzel, and Ariana Grande. Braun joked on Twitter: “Breaking news… I’m no longer managing myself.” (It was later reported that while Grande has new management, she would retain a business relationship with Braun and HYBE). Billboard reported that Bieber was still on contract until 2027. More reports emerged, claiming that the Biebers were displeased with both Braun and his business partner Alison Kaye’s performance while more sources confirmed that Bieber and Braun were no longer on speaking terms.
Summer 2024: Fresh Starts
On June 17, Scooter Braun announced that he was officially retiring from management. In a lengthy post on Instagram celebrating 23 years of being a manager and the recent successes of his clients, Braun revealed that he would be transitioning into his role as CEO of HYBE America full-time.
“It was this past Christmas Day when Ariana [Grande] and Justin [Bieber] became the biggest male and female in the history of the Spotify Billions club that I just smiled and thought ‘what a ride,’” he wrote. “Justin and Ariana were both young teenagers when I began with them. Justin a 13 year old kid busking in Canada and Ariana a young actress on Nickelodeon. To see them both come up to be the legends they are today will forever be one of my greatest honors … I will continue to root for them with the same passion that I did at each of their humble beginnings.”
A month later, the Biebers welcomed their first child Jack Blues. Bieber had reportedly entered the studio to record a follow up to 2021’s Justice, according to Mk.gee who revealed to the New York Times that he had been recording with Bieber.
2025: Goodbye Forever?
In January, Bieber kicked off the year by officially unfollowing Scooter Braun on Instagram. It was the most definitive statement he had made on the status of their relationship; there was never an official announcement of them parting ways since Braun announced his retirement.
By the spring, fans and followers began expressing concern for Bieber, whose Instagram content and behavior in public became more erratic. Reports began circulating that he was having money troubles while former friends accused Bieber’s pastor Judah Smith of running a “cult” that had sucked the singer in.
TMZ later reported that Bieber and Braun’s rift was over money, claiming that Bieber owed Braun and HYBE millions over his cancelled tour. He had received a $40 million advance from promoter AEG and owed them $24 million. HYBE agreed to pay off the debt if Bieber paid them back over the next ten years; Bieber allegedly made only one payment. The report continued to allege that Bieber’s business manager, Lou Taylor, had concluded that Braun had been “grossly overpaid in commissions.” A HYBE audit determined the opposite and that Bieber actually owed Braun an extra $1 million.
In response to these claims, Bieber’s reps denied that the singer was in financial distress. “Any source that is trying to sell you a story about alleged financial distress … either doesn’t understand the entertainment industry or, more likely, is trying to paint an unflattering portrait of Justin, which bears no resemblance to reality,” Bieber’s reps said.
Meanwhile, Bieber’s wife Hailey sold her beauty company Rhode for $1 billion. And Swift’s masters saga came to a close when she bought back her music from Shamrock. A source said the sale happened “in spite of Scooter Braun, not because of him.”
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June 2025: Braun Speaks Out
Both Bieber and Braun had kept tight-lipped on the status of their relationship amid the warring reports on debts and well-being. Braun finally spoke about their rift in an episode of the Diary of a CEO podcast. He didn’t divulge many details but confirmed that their relationship is “not the same as it was.”
“I think there comes a point where I understand he probably wants to go on and show that he can do it,” Braun said. “We worked together for so long and we had such extreme success. And I think you get to a point as a man where you want to show the world you can do it on your own. And I completely respect that. I think at this point, that’s what he’s doing. Myself and everyone from the old team is rooting for him.”
