First Agnelli and Berlusconi, now two large companies united by business ability. But with different roads in football
Forget the lawyer and the knight. For decades Juventus-Milan has embodied the industrial spirit of Italy, with the recognizable and powerfully media faces of Gianni Agnelli and Silvio Berlusconi. It was another Serie A, it was another football. The Berlusconi family raised the white flag, selling in 2017 to a Chinese phantom (Li Yonghong) who had the necessary money lent by Elliott, only to then disappear and give up the club “at risk of bankruptcy” (Copyright by Giorgio Furlani) at the same US Fund. The Agnelli family is still there, proudly the longest owner of an Italian club (since 1923). In the meantime, many things have changed: John Elkann, the heir designated for business management, has ferried the group on the waves of high finance and globalization by moving the headquarters to Amsterdam and diversifying the business. Current photography returns a different reality: on the one hand Exor, on the other Redbird. Entities with different structure and characteristics, but more similar than it may seem. In recent years, Exor has approached the modus operandi typical of a private equity company, precisely to the Redbird.
here exor
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The Holding of the Agnelli family is listed on the Dutch bag and is 55% controlled by Giovanni Agnelli BV, the company that holds together all the heirs of the Fiat founder. The hen from the golden eggs remains Ferrari, a factory in Maranello, the flagship of Made in Italy, a net profit of 1.5 billion euros in 2024. But over time Exor has significantly varying its portfolio by yielding historic brands (from Magneti Marelli to Iveco) and widening to sectors such as health, luxury and technology, combining “its entrepreneurial approach with a solida with a solida financial discipline “. The latest sales, the placement of Ferrari shares and dividends have fueled the case with 4 billion which will be spent in new acquisitions. Today the main companies in portfolio, in addition to Ferrari, are Stellantis, Philips, CNH Industrial, Juventus, The Economist and Gedi. The net value of all active ingredients is 36 billion euros
here redbird
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The private investment company, founded in 2014 by Gerry Cardinal, operates on behalf of a global group of institutional investors and family office. The heritage managed is 12 billion dollars; The 50 companies of which Redbird holds control or participation aggregate an Enterprise Value of over 60 billion dollars. Unlike Exor, the US fund focuses mainly on the sectors of sport, entertainment and media. Also because Cardinal had followed Goldman Sachs’ investments for twenty years in those areas. The main operation is the one completed in summer that led to the creation of a media giant: the merger between paramount and skydance with a value of 8.4 billion dollars, including 2 by Redbird. In portfolio there are also Fenway Sports Group (Liverpool and Boston Red Sox), Yes Network, Milan, Alpine (F1), Tolosa and All3 Media. The Americans, imitating Exor, also presented an offer of 500 million pounds for the newspaper The Telegraph.
Juve and Milan
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United by the skill in doing business, Exor and Redbird have traveled different paths in football. Exor treats Juventus as a special asset. Other than the return of the investment. Since 2007 he has participated in five recapitalizations paying 715 million, to which are added the 30 paid in recent months in view of a new capital increase of up to 110 million. It is true that Redbird’s investment, however concentrated from 2022 onwards, is equally heavy. But from the total of 825 million, 770 million went to Elliott for the purchase (489 more interests remain in the area of the Vendor Loan) and only 55 million ended up in the Rossoneri coffers. On the other hand, Cardinal Milan is subscribed to profits, while Exor’s Juve has recorded 847 million losses in the last 5 years.
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