What a month for AC Milan supporters! In May 2022 they finally won Serie A for the first time after 2011, they took it from their fierce rivals Inter and they did it when nobody believed in it. And now, they have a new owner as well. Investment fund Elliott Management, have agreed to sell the club to rival US fund RedBird for 1.3 billion dollars. Elliott became the Rossoneri owner in 2018 as part of a deal with Chinese businessman Li Yonghong, who was unable to repay a loan he had taken out when he bought the club from Silvio Berlusconi’s Fininvest in 2017.🤝 A warm welcome to the Rossoneri family to Gerry Cardinale ❤️🖤#SempreMilan pic.twitter.com/9vvhuZak6i— AC Milan (@acmilan) June 1, 2022 The Americans became the owners even though they didn’t want to, but handled the club with care and even have an Italian title to show for it. Now they are happy to remain as a minor stakeholder. Milan announced losses for last season of 96 million euros, down from a deficit of 195 million euros in 2020. Elliott have invested 740 million euros in the club since 2018, according to Italian media.”The transition to new ownership will take place over the summer, with an expected closing no later than September 2022. Elliott will retain a minority financial interest in the club and seats on the board of directors. RedBird’s priority is to work with the club’s title-winning sporting and club management team to continue Milan’s journey back to the summit of world football” the club said in a statement.AC Milan really want Rafael Leao to stay – and not even think of other clubsAnd the new owners held their first press conference today, confirming Paolo Maldini will remain as director, and this is by far the best news the fans could hear since Milan’s legend is the most responsible for Rossoneri’s success in recent years.„I’ve experienced the World Series, the Super Bowl, the NBA, but nothing gave me the excitement I felt that day, when the fans were celebrating the title on the streets. I hope we can all experience it many more times with our fans. I hate losing. I wanna win“ said RedBird founder Gerro Cardinale at Casa Milan.”They wanted blood, sweat and tears. I paid a heavy price”RedBird’s takeover came after they bought a minority stake last year in Fenway Sports Group, the owners of Liverpool and of Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox. Their acquisition of Milan follows their purchase of a majority stake in French club Toulouse in 2020. Toulouse this year won promotion back to France’s Ligue 1.WED: 21.45: (2.45) SCOTLAND (3.10) UKRAINE (3.45)In April, Italian media reported interest from Bahrain-based investment fund Investcorp, but the talks ended without a deal at the end of May. Italian media reported that the deal between Elliott and Investcorp collapsed as seven-time European champions Milan’s owners pushed for a higher purchase price off the back of winning the Scudetto. RedBird not only offered a higher fee, they also allowed Elliott to remain minority shareholders and keep both sporting directors Paolo Maldini and Frederic Massara in place. Milan are one of a string of Italian clubs under North American ownership, with Roma, Bologna, Fiorentina, Venezia, Spezia and Genoa all in the hands of investors from the United States or Canada.
