Jeff Zucker Lands Publish-CNN Perch Working Sports activities Funding Fund For RedBird Capital – Deadline

Jeff Zucker, who left WarnerMedia final February simply earlier than its merger with Discovery, is in discussions with RedBird Capital to guide a $1 billion sports activities funding fund backed by the personal fairness outfit.

The talks, first reported by The Ankler, had been confirmed by an individual conversant in the state of affairs. Given the character of negotiations, the supply famous, the conversations might collapse.

Zucker has had vital sports activities expertise on his resume, overseeing Turner Sports activities along with his CNN duties for the final half of his tenure and earlier than that presiding over various profitable Olympics telecasts, amongst different main sporting occasions. At Turner, he oversaw the corporate’s protection of the NBA, NCAA Males’s Basketball Match and in addition led its acquisition of NHL rights in 2021.

RedBird, which is led by former Goldman Sachs exec Gerry Cardinale, has had ties with many figures in media. It’s a stakeholder in Skydance in addition to the XFL, which was purchased out of chapter by Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia. The corporate additionally teamed with Epic Video games and Nike to make an funding in LeBron James’ SpringHill Media. Zucker’s position is paying homage to an early announcement from Kevin Mayer after he left Disney in 2020 after a prolonged run.

Zucker’s tenure overseeing CNN and sports activities got here to an finish amid experiences — acknowledged by Zucker — that he had been in a consensual relationship with former colleague Allison Gollust. As David Zaslav and his workforce took management of WBD, change was within the air in any occasion, and present CNN boss Chris Licht has overseen a number of cost-cutting strikes as the corporate seems to trim prices.