Jeff Zucker to Lead $1 Billion Venture to Acquire Media, Sports Properties

Brian Steinberg
·3 min read
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Jeff Zucker is aiming to get back into the media business after his departure from CNN.

The veteran media executive, who has been CEO of NBCUniversal as well as president of the news outlet that is now part of Warner Bros. Discovery, will lead RedBird IMI, a joint-venture investment vehicle focused on acquiring and investing in large scale media, entertainment and sports content properties.  RedBird IMI, which includes investments from RedBird Capital Partners and International Media Investments, launches with initial committed capital of $1 billion.

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“I’ve spent 35 years running media businesses at the intersection of news, sports and entertainment, creating new brands and resurrecting old ones,” Zucker said in a prepared statement. “That experience has given me unparalleled perspective for this unique time in media, and the combination of the RedBird and IMI capital and strategic discipline, combined with my operational experience, will give this joint venture a unique advantage in the current media landscape.”

Zucker has been at loose ends, at least in the media industry, since abruptly leaving CNN in February after revealing a consensual relationship with Allison Gollust, CNN’s chief marketing officer, that had not been acknowledged to WarnerMedia. During his time at CNN, the network gained new traction, and profits, shaking up its plain-vanilla news dissemination in favor of a glitzier product that made room for opinionated hosts and documentary filmmaking. Warner Bros. Discovery has pulled back on both those elements of the company since taking over operations.

Zucker was also overseeing Warner’s sports business, making him a czar, of sorts, over the company’s live-TV programming. It’s something that has been in his wheelhouse since his early days as a top producer at NBC’s “Today” morning program while it was anchored by Matt Lauer and Katie Couric. His success there catapulted him up the ranks at NBC.

RedBird and IMI are known for some of their sports and media investments. RedBird owns part of Fenway Sports Group and SpringHill Co. The former owns the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool Football Club, while the latter is owned by LeBron James. RedBird also has a stake in Skydance Media. IMI operates a group of media companies in the United Arab Emirates, and has a stake in Euronews.

“We are very pleased to partner with IMI to create a long-term, fully capitalized investment vehicle that can own and operate content-focused businesses across the media spectrum in the U.S. and globally.  The skill and experience of the combined team will allow us to identify assets that will benefit from the deployment of success-based capital to further scale or diversify, while also enabling the development of new companies competitively advantaged as market and consumer trends continue to evolve,” said Gerry Cardinale, RedBird’s founder and managing partner, in a statement. “With Jeff as our CEO, this platform will integrate substantial operating expertise with sophisticated financial and investing acumen to deploy transformational capital on a scaled basis.”

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