Former President of CNN, Jeff Zucker, has teamed up with private-equity firm RedBird Capital Partners and funder International Media Investments to form RedBird IMI. The venture aims to locate promising investments in digital media, sports, entertainment and news. RedBird IMI comprises Zucker, Gerry Cardinale – chief executive and founder of RedBird – and Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber – IMI chairman and an Emirati government minister leading IMI’s investment talks in the US. RedBird is reportedly committing $250m to the new company, with the remaining $750m coming from IMI. Zucker has already started scouting investments and has considered digital media start-ups Puck and Semafor, while one of his former deputies at CNN, the former president of CNN Commercial Worldwide Rani Raad, has joined the new venture. Zucker has stated that he is interested in building a company that owns digital publications geared towards specific audiences, similar to Condé Nast.
