I arrive early at Milanello Sports Center for lunch with Gerry Cardinale. The 10-year-old AC Milan fan in me wants to absorb the place where champions from Paolo Maldini to Andrea Pirlo once trained before I meet the American financier behind some of the most audacious deals reshaping the cultural landscape.
Cardinale, sporting dark glasses and coffee in hand, is standing on an immaculate pitch chatting with two executives. The founder of RedBird Capital Partners, who bought the Italian football club in 2022, has just flown in from Washington. He was there to meet with Donald Trump, to discuss US college sports.
The timing for our lunch is apt. Days earlier, Cardinale orchestrated one of the biggest ever deals. He worked with the billionaire Ellison family to buy Warner Bros Discovery for $110bn after a bruising battle with streaming goliath Netflix. The same week his private equity group also sold control of Britain’s Daily Telegraph; closed a merger to create the world’s largest independent TV production group behind hits such as Peaky Blinders; and helped US actor Ben Affleck sell an AI film tech company for about $700mn. Then, the White House meeting.