Seven-time European Champions AC Milan have been sold again, this time to American investment group RedBird Capital. RedBird paid 1.2bn euros (£1bn) to acquire the current Serie A champions from Elliott Advisors.
AC Milan is one of the crown jewels of European football, having won 19 Serie A Championships, 7 Champions Leagues/European Cups, 7 Supercoppa Italianas, 5 Coppa Italias, 5 European Super Cups, 3 Intercontinental Cups, 2 European Cup Winners’ Cups, and 1 FIFA Club World Cup.
But since Silvio Berlusconi sold the club in 2016, Milan has gone through a series of owners and they are hoping that RedBird’s sporting portfolio, which is worth $7.5bn (£6.5bn), includes stakes in Fenway Sports Group, the owners of Liverpool and baseball team the Boston Red Sox, as well as French Ligue 1 side Toulouse and IPL cricket team Rajasthan Royals will provide the marketing and sports knowledge to take the club forward.
The American fund has been joined by other co-investors such as Yankee Global Enterprises, owner of the New York Yankees and Gerry Cardinale, RedBird founder, said the investment group’s partnership with the New York Yankees would help:
“Our vision for Milan is clear: we will support our talented players, coaches and staff to deliver success on the pitch and allow our fans to share in the extraordinary experiences of this historic club,” Cardinale told Milan’s official website.
“We will look to leverage our global sports and media network, our analytics expertise, our track record in sports stadium developments and hospitality to deliver one goal – maintaining Milan’s place at the summit of European and world football.”
“We have a multi-decade relationship with the New York Yankees and the Steinbrenner family that has resulted in the creation of some of the most successful businesses in sports, entertainment and hospitality,” he continued.
“We are very pleased to continue our partnership with them and will look to explore opportunities together to broaden our fan reach and expand commercial opportunities that are only available to franchises that operate at the highest levels of sports globally.”
When the deal for AC Milan was agreed in June it was confirmed that Elliott Advisors, who took over the club from Chinese businessman Li Yonghong four years ago, would retain a minority stake and seats on the board.
AC Milan celebrated their first Serie A title in 11 years in May and are unbeaten this season, sitting third in the table behind city rivals Inter Milan and league leaders Roma, having won two and drawn two of their opening four games.
