Last year, International Media Investments (helmed by former CNN/Warner Media executive Jeff Zucker, with funding from the United Arab Emirates) teamed up with UFL part-owner RedBird Capital for a RedBird IMI fund. Last October, that fund took a significant stake in sports business/sports media publication Front Office Sports, with Zucker talking about expanding their operations in video and beyond. And on Tuesday, FOS announced that RedBird IMI now has taken majority control of their publication, buying out initial investor SC Holdings. Here’s more from their release on that:
Front Office Sports, the leading multi-platform media and news organization covering the business of sports, announced its investor RedBird IMI has taken a majority stake in the company.
…“Front Office Sports has established itself as a great investment for RedBird IMI,” said Jeff Zucker, the CEO of RedBird IMI and Chair of FOS Board of Directors. “The company has grown its revenue by 85% year-over-year, and we’ve seen the business of sports become a mainstay in the media industry. RedBird IMI is focused on investing in cross-platform media companies that are breaking news, driving the cultural conversation, and capturing audiences in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Front Office Sports is deeply connected to the industry and poised for growth.”
“Over the past five years, Front Office Sports has consistently surpassed our expectations, achieving remarkable growth and scale while establishing a credible and relevant news brand,” said Jason Stein, Managing Partner of SC Holdings. “We are grateful to FOS founder and CEO Adam White for trusting us as partners from the beginning and for leading the company with vision and poise. Jeff and the RedBird IMI team are ideal partners for the next phase of growth at FOS. We look forward to their continued success together and to reading FOS every day.”
“RedBird IMI has been an incredible partner to Front Office Sports as we went through tremendous growth this past year, made new key hires, expanded our events programming, and more,” said Adam White, Founder and CEO of Front Office Sports. “The expansion of this partnership will allow us to fully take advantage of the immense resources at RedBird IMI’s disposal and help us grow at this pinnacle time for the business of sports. I’m incredibly appreciative of the support SC Holdings gave us from day one and am excited for the next chapter of FOS.”
As with the initial Zucker/RedBird investment last fall, it’s not particularly clear from that release what specific changes are ahead for FOS. But majority control always matters, and when current investors up their stake to majority control, it often means they have plans to change at least part of a company’s approach.
Beyond that, though, this does indicate the increased prominence FOS (which has made notable recent hires, including editor-in-chief Daniel Roberts) is finding in the sports business and sports media space. And it also suggests that Zucker and RedBird have maintained or grown their opinion of the company since their initial investment. We’ll see what comes of them taking majority control here, and what it means for the sports media landscape.
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.