Ex-CNN chief Jeff Zucker resurfaces at investor RedBird IMI with $1bn war chest
Former CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker has been named CEO of RedBird IMI, a joint-venture (JV) investment company backed by more than US$1bn in capital.
The new entity, set up by private investment firms RedBird Capital Partners and International Media Investments (IMI), said it is focused on acquiring and investing in “large-scale media, entertainment and sports content properties on a global basis.”
The launch of the new company comes less than a year after Zucker left his role at CNN after failing to disclose a romantic relationship with fellow CNN executive Allison Gollust.
The influential executive led CNN from 2013 until 2022 and before that spent more than two decades with NBCUniversal, most recently as president and CEO.
New York-based RedBird Capital, led by founder and managing partner Gerry Cardinale, has made a handful of media investments in recent years.
Last month, it was announced the firm was backing a new production venture from Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, and in 2021 Maverick Carter and LeBron James’s The SpringHill Company sold a minority stake to an investment group led by RedBird.
Abu Dhabi-based IMI holds media investments in digital and linear entities including The National, Sky News Arabia, CNN Business Arabic and The Grid.
“I’ve spent 35 years running media businesses at the intersection of news, sports and entertainment, creating new brands and resurrecting old ones,” said Zucker, who is also an operating partner in the new venture.
“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.”
IMI CEO Nart Bouran added: “The RedBird IMI joint venture has come together at an important time as the media industry continues to evolve in both content creation and distribution to meet the evolving expectations of consumers globally.
“Partnering with Jeff Zucker and Gerry Cardinale will enable us to bring tremendous operational, investing and financial expertise to make impactful and transformative investments across the media, entertainment and sports landscapes.”
Cardinale said: “We are very pleased to partner with IMI to create a long-term, fully capitalised investment vehicle that can own and operate content-focused businesses across the media spectrum in the US 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.
“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.”
