Ex-CNN boss Jeff Zucker to buy minority stake in Front Office Sports newsletter
Former CNN boss Jeff Zucker will scoop up a minority stake in online newsletter Front Office Sports, the publisher announced on Monday.
Zucker, through his investment firm, RedBird IMI, will buy an undisclosed stake in the company. The deal values Front Office Sports at about $40 million — an increase from $25 million at the end of 2021 — people familiar with the terms told Bloomberg.
“As we enter this next stage of expansion, we are incredibly excited to partner with Jeff Zucker, one of the media industry’s greatest minds,” Front Office’s CEO Adam White said in the press release.
Zucker will become co-chairman alongside Jason Stein, whose private equity firm SC Holdings was the first to invest in Front Office after it was founded in 2016 by White and Russell Wilde in their University of Miami dorm room.
Zucker’s stake includes shares from SC Holdings, and buys out Crain Communications Inc., which bought a 20% stake in Front Office last year, according to Bloomberg.
The funds will be used to expand Front Office’s presence beyond its newsletter, which is sent to 800,000 inboxes twice daily and contains sports-heavy news on everything from college athletics to “NFL’s Swift mania.”
“The key is to expand the newsroom and the journalism,” Zucker told Bloomberg of Front Office, which employs 40 reporters.
He said Front Office wants to become a “real leader in the coverage of the business of sports, especially at a time where places like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal have backed off of that a little.”
Zucker’s RedBird and SC Holdings will now own equal minority stakes in Front Office, while the workers own the rest, per the outlet.
Representatives for RedBird and Front Office Sports did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Zucker is no stranger to the world of sports. As president and CEO of NBCUniversal, he oversaw a massive marketing and promotional campaign plugging the network’s coverage of the Olympic Games.
Zucker’s most recent job title of CNN Worldwide included oversight of the corporate behemoth’s sports media properties, among them Turner Sports, Bleacher Report and AT&T SportsNet.
RedBird CEO Gerry Cardinale has also already made his fair share of sports-related investments with big names in the industry, including when he backed Fenway Sports, Artists Equity with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, and SpringHill with LeBron James.
Zucker became the chief of Redbird IMI — a joint venture between RedBird Capital Partners and Emirate-based International Media Investments — in December 2022 after he was forced to resign from CNN for failing to disclose a years-long consensual affair with a subordinate earlier last year.
RedBird Capital Partners — which has about $10 billion under management — reportedly committed $250 million to the partnership, while IMI pledged $750 million, backing RedBird IMI with a staggering $1 billion to hunt for deals.
The Front Office investment marks Zucker’s third since starting RedBird IMI, though he’s eyed a slew of other deals.
In June, Zucker was reportedly circling the Washington Post, Semafor, Puck and Air Mail — the media company founded by former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter — though he has yet to announce any deals with the media properties.
