Yahoo Movies Jeff Zucker on RedBird IMI’s Focus: Quality Content and Investment Rather Than “Managing Decline”
Jeff Zucker, the former president of CNN and CEO of NBCUniversal, explained his M&A focus with RedBird IMI during a conference appearance in London on Thursday, saying that “quality programming that you own … will continue to be the key” in a media industry that has been facing “disruption” and various challenges.
The investment firm bases its work on a key premise. “The idea is that intellectual property and quality content, whether it’s entertainment or news and information, will succeed in the long run with the proper eventual amount of capital and patience,” the industry veteran explained at the Wall Street Journal event.
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So, “investing, building, and growing” is the focus at RedBird IMI, which is “not what is really going on in a lot of media,” Zucker said. “It’s actually quite a relief right now to be in the process of trying to grow assets, and each of the ones that we’ve either started from scratch or acquired, we’re in the process of investing in and building and growing.”
He concluded: “For me, that’s actually really exciting, and I’m very happy to be to doing that as opposed to having to just manage decline.”
His session, entitled “A New Take on Old Media,” covering such topics as the bigger plan behind the buying spree of Zucker and Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird IMI, was part of the WSJ CEO Council Summit, which was live-streamed.
In February, the company unveiled a £1.15 billion ($1.45 billion) deal to acquire production powerhouse All3Media — the largest TV producer in the U.K. and the company behind such shows as reality series Squid Game: The Challenge and films like World War I epic 1917 — from owners Warner Bros. Discovery and John Malone’s cable and telecom giant Liberty Global. The deal gives the new owner control over a big production business across scripted and unscripted series as well as theatrical movie titles. That deal “will close next Tuesday,” Zucker said on Thursday.
And he signaled more deal appetite. While RedBird IMI has built “a very nice portfolio on the entertainment content side,” he said there is more room for deals that bring in more quality content. He also expressed interest in deals in the news and information space, “especially in the digital news and information space.” In this context, he mentioned RedBird IMI’s “tiny” Front Office Sports, which covers the intersection of sports and business, as a good example. “We’d like to add to that, and we’ll continue to look for those opportunities around the globe.” And he emphasized: “I’m not trying to run away from news at all.”
Overall, he said that “we’d obviously like to keep going” about his team’s deal and investment plans ahead.
Earlier this year, RedBird IMI acquired a stake in Media Res, the studio behind the Apple TV+ shows The Morning Show and Pachinko, among other projects, which was founded by former HBO executive Michael Ellenberg.
Launched in late 2022 with a $1 billion war chest backed by RedBird Capital and Abu Dhabi’s IMI, RedBird IMI has the mandate to pursue investments in the news, entertainment and sports sectors. Led by Zucker, the firm has previously also struck deals to launch the nonfiction studio EverWonder, as well as the sports industry news outlet Front Office Sports. Meanwhile, RedBird Capital has also invested in the likes of Skydance Media, which has been looking to acquire Paramount Global, the YES Network, and Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s Artists Equity.
Zucker on Thursday was also asked about RedBird IMI recently having to abandon its plans to acquire the conservative daily newspaper The Daily Telegraph and magazine The Spectator amid political and media opposition to a deal because of the firm’s Abu Dhabi financiers. He called the two “terrific brands,” noting that brands of “such stature” do “rarely” become available. The Telegraph is “quite a good business,” likely better than people realize, but could have benefited from more investment after a period of under-investment over the past decade to help it grow in the U.K. and globally, including in the U.S., he explained.
“We’ll move on and do the next thing,” the executive also shared. Asked what mistakes could have been avoided, he said the company tried to be “good citizens” and therefore didn’t close a deal for The Spectator right away. He also suggested the Telegraph deal could have been structured differently and “changed the percentage of ownership of each of the entities that was within RedBird IMI” to potentially get it through. “We didn’t fully appreciate the need to do either of those moves at that time,” Zucker acknowledged.
He shared that the two assets are now being shopped and could be sold together or separately. “The interest has actually been pretty robust,” he said. A surprise has been interest from players from outside the U.K., Zucker mentioned without disclosing details. The process could play out over two to three months, he suggested.
Zucker said that in his past jobs he was always looking at M&A opportunities and interested in entrepreneurial approaches. What does he miss most about his former career? “Leading a big organization,” Zucker shared.
No surprise that he then faced big M&A questions. Asked if he could end up running CBS if it gets sold in a Paramount Global sale, Zucker said: “That is so premature that it’s not even something that I’m thinking about at this point,” he answered. “I don’t know, none of us knows what’s going to happen with Paramount, and I’m not involved in any of those conversations or negotiations. So I don’t know what’s going to happen there.”
In general, though, he shared, “I would take a look at anything that came before me. I mean, obviously, I have a lot of experience doing things like that.”
He also shared that his team has not looked at buying CNN so far, saying: “I know that for a lot of people, this is how the movie ends: I should come back in and buy CNN. It’s not something that we’ve contemplated at this point. It’s not something that we’ve ever looked at, in any formal way, in any manner.” And he added: “CNN is not for sale, as far as I know.” He added that, “of course, we would look at it,” if it came up for sale, but the same would be true for the Wall Street Journal and any “really great news and information brands, big or small.”
How does he feel about his time at CNN? Zucker said he was “incredibly proud” of his nine years there overall, but “of course, we made mistakes,” including in covering Donald Trump, he reiterated past comments. “Over the course of that campaign … did we give him too much free air time uninterrupted, covered his rallies too much? Yes, we did. Do I think that’s why he became President of the United States? No.” Zucker said, highlighting: “There was a large swath of the United States that actually was quite interested in voting for Donald Trump.”
Asked about his take on NBA rights and whether Warner Bros. Discovery should buy them, Zucker said, “the NBA is incredibly important to TNT and the Turner networks,” but emphasized that he doesn’t have any insight on the state of talks. “Everything’s easy in hindsight,” even if outsiders make many things sound simple, he emphasized. “It’s really easy for people to throw stones from the outside,” Zucker added. “Everybody is a critic. Social media makes sure of that.”
Zucker late in his session also answered a question about journalism, calling journalists “pains in the asses” by nature. “Even in good times, newsrooms are places of discontent and people rising up.”
What is a top executive’s role? “I’m a firm believer that you do have to hear your employees and hear your employee base, but I also don’t think you can let the inmates run the asylum,” he replied. “Leadership matters.” And that sometimes means “unpopular decisions,” including four to five really difficult ones a year.
Zucker was interviewed by Jessica Toonkel, deputy media editor at The Wall Street Journal.
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