Jeff Zucker and RedBird IMI take control of Front Office Sports

Last year, International Media Investments (led 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 industry/sports media publication Front Office Sports, with Zucker talking about expanding its operations in video and beyond. And on Tuesday, FOS announced that RedBird IMI has now taken majority control of their publication, buying out initial investor SC Holdings. Here’s more from their publication about it:

Front Office Sports, the leading multiplatform media and news organization for the sports industry, announced that its investor RedBird IMI has acquired a majority stake in the company.

… “Front Office Sports has proven to be a great investment for RedBird IMI,” said Jeff Zucker, CEO of RedBird IMI and Chairman of the FOS Board of Directors. “The company has increased its revenue by 85% compared to the previous year and we have seen that the sports business has become a mainstay of the media industry. RedBird IMI focuses on investing in cross-platform media companies that deliver breaking news, advance the cultural conversation and engage audiences in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Front Office Sports is closely connected to the industry and positioned for growth.”

“Over the past five years, Front Office Sports has consistently exceeded 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 a partner from the beginning and for leading the company with vision and composure. Jeff and the RedBird IMI team are ideal partners for the next phase of growth at FOS. We look forward to continued success together and to reading FOS every day.”

“RedBird IMI has been an incredible partner to Front Office Sports as we experienced tremendous growth over the past year, hired new key employees, expanded our events programming and more,” said Adam White, founder and CEO of Front Office Sports. “Expanding this partnership will allow us to take full advantage of the immense resources available to RedBird IMI and grow us to this pinnacle of the sports business. I am incredibly grateful for the support SC Holdings has given us from day one and look forward to the next chapter of FOS.”

As with Zucker/RedBird’s initial investment last fall, it’s not particularly clear from this release what specific changes are coming to FOS. But majority control is always important, and when current investors increase their stake to majority control, it often means they have plans to change at least part of a company’s approach.

But more than that, it points to the increasing importance that FOS (which has recently made notable hires, including editor-in-chief Daniel Roberts) is finding in the sports business and media. And it also suggests that Zucker and RedBird have maintained or expanded their views on the company since their initial investment. We’ll see what happens with them taking majority control here and what that means for the sports media landscape.

[Front Office Sports]