Welcome back to In the Room, and greetings from New York, where Puck and MoffettNathanson are hosting our sold-out In the Arena summit on the evolving sports media landscape. My partner John Ourand has put together a murderers’ row of guests for tomorrow’s event—Adam Silver, Michael Rubin, Josh Harris, the list goes on—and I look forward to seeing many of you there. (I’ll be talking with Liberty Media chief Derek Chang, as well as top execs from MLS, NWSL, and Sixth Street.)

On the flight over, I took advantage of some shoddy Wi-Fi to peruse The Wall Street Journal’s special section for business leaders. Amid some rather obvious trend pieces was one very important piece of advice for executives and, frankly, everyone: Stop saying “maybe.” Not to get all VandeHei on you, but top performers are decisive, as you know, and no one likes vacillation or ambivalence.

In tonight’s issue, news and notes on Gerry Cardinale’s surprise entry into the media space via Paramount, RedBird IMI, and, most unexpectedly, his impending takeover of The Telegraph. What does Gerry intend to do with this cherished Tory asset? It starts with elevating a veteran of the FT.

🍸 Plus, on the latest edition of The Grill Room, TBPN co-hosts John Coogan and Jordi Hays joined me to discuss how they scaled their podcast to a live, three-hour-a-day juggernaut pulling in roughly $5 million in ad revenue. They explained how they’ve managed to captivate both Silicon Valley and Wall Street, and their push to triple revenue by the end of next year. Follow The Grill Room on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you prefer to listen.

🎧 Plus, plus: Fresh off the heels of her Grill Room appearance, New York Times Co. C.E.O. Meredith Kopit Levien sat down with my partner, Puck co-founder Jon Kelly, for another long and candid chat about the rigors and realities of running a publicly traded mediaco on our flagship podcast, The Powers That Be. The conversation covered a range of topics familiar to many Times kremlinologists: her arrival in the aftermath of the Carlos Slim loan, the legacy of the Innovation Report, and the incredible success of the company’s rebundling efforts and lifestyle strategy. They also covered the successful integration of The Athletic and its accretive benefits to the consumer and commercial business lines. You’ll also want to hear her unvarnished thoughts on leading a news organization in the Trump era. Listen here.

Mentioned in this issue: Bill Simmons, Bari Weiss, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, David Ellison, Emma Tucker, Olivia Nuzzi, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Rebecca Kutler, Gerry Cardinale, Matthew Garrahan, Jeff Zucker, Jeff Shell, Sheikh Mansour, Chris Wallace, Jerry Jones, Ari Emanuel, Melissa McAdden, Chris Evans, Will Lewis, and many more…

Let’s get started…

Podcast and chill: As you’ve no doubt heard, Netflix has struck a deal with Spotify to start streaming video podcasts, starting with 16 shows from Spotify Studios and Bill Simmons’s The Ringer. This could be a watershed moment for the podcasting industry, which has seen a surge in advertising revenue driven by the increasing popularity of video. According to a recent report from Cumulus Media, nearly three out of four listeners prefer shows with video. On that note, the deal also sets up new tension between Netflix and YouTube, which has long been the leading podcast platform with 33 percent market share of all podcast listening (not just video). With this deal, Spotify shows on Netflix can now no longer air in full on YouTube.
Bari watch: Bari Weiss continues to play lead booker at CBS News. In a meeting with the senior team at 60 Minutes this week, I’m told, she proposed a package on the Gaza ceasefire and attempted to book Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, two co-architects of the deal. Meanwhile, she personally booked Bibi Netanyahu for Tony Dokoupil’s interview yesterday on CBS Mornings. Bookings are table stakes in this business, of course, and they don’t always drive viewership—a fact I noted when she landed Hillary Clinton and Condi Rice last week. That said, CBS stands to benefit from Bari’s Rolodex of politicians, business leaders, and other members of the Sun Valley set. Most newsroom chiefs aren’t so popular among the establishment.

In the meantime, Bari’s attempt to ask employees to explain how they spend their time, what they’re proud of, and where they think the network could improve has run headlong into predictable bitching from the union, which fears she’ll use it as justification for terminations. (Duh.) I understand the anxiety; CBS News is about to conduct layoffs. But I’m still partial to the VandeHei thesis: This is the kind of leadership newsrooms should want.
Speaking of layoffs…: Now that it’s Q4, companies are moving to balance budgets. The cuts will be especially acute at Paramount, given David Ellison’s pledge to find $2 billion in cost savings post-merger. I’ve been told this could impact as many as 100 positions or more at CBS News alone. Meanwhile, NBC News began implementing layoffs on Wednesday, with roughly 150 employees affected across various divisions, bureaus, and shows. The company is attributing those cuts to the Versant spin, which moved MSNBC and CNBC out of the NBC News Group portfolio, as well as the usual macroeconomic headwinds. In tangentially related news, Wall Street Journal editor Emma Tucker has laid off a dozen reporters on the paper’s health and science team as part of a restructuring.
Nuzzi!: Olivia Nuzzi’s forthcoming book, which I first reported on back in April, is set to be published later this year, per Status’s Oliver Darcy. The book is neither a memoir nor a tell-all, I’m told, though she will at least address the relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that led to her departure from New York magazine a year ago this month. If I catch wind of any further details, I’ll let you know.
And finally…: MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler has revealed to staff that she’s been diagnosed with breast cancer. Kutler’s prognosis is good and, in an admirable display of leadership, she used the opportunity to urge her charges to take care of their own health amid the unrelenting demands of the news cycle. Kutler expects to be out of the office for a while starting in a few weeks. We wish her the best.

And now, the main event…

Where the RedBird Grows

Besides chipping in $2 billion for Skydance’s Paramount takeover, RedBird Capital’s Gerry Cardinale is preparing to take over The Telegraph and shuffling deck chairs among London’s newspaper ranks.

Dylan Byers

Late last week, Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital announced that it had hired Financial Times journalist Matthew Garrahan as an operating partner in its news and entertainment division. At first glance, the appointment seemed like the latest in a string of unusual media-guy hires at the private equity firm. Years ago, Cardinale had partnered with former CNN president Jeff Zucker to create RedBird IMI, an investment vehicle in partnership with Emirati royal Sheikh Mansour. (RedBird and IMI supply 25 percent and 75 percent, respectively, for each investment.) Then came Jeff Shell, the defenestrated C.E.O. of NBCU who enjoyed a gap year at RedBird while Gerry worked with the Ellisons to acquire Paramount Global from Shari Redstone. Shell now serves as president of Paramount Skydance.

More recently, Gerry hired Fox and CNN veteran Chris Wallace to advise on “news and investments,” a slightly ambiguous gig that required the 78-year-old lifelong anchorman to immerse himself in private equity’s myriad acronyms. Garrahan, an FT standby for nearly three decades, had served in big editorial and operational roles, but it was similarly unclear exactly how he might “support RedBird’s growth strategies.”

The hires are, in fact, indicative of a broader transformation at RedBird and Gerry’s own evolving and widening investment journey. A former Goldman banker, Gerry has long established himself as a major player in the sports media business through his hallmark partnership with George Steinbrenner to create the YES Network more than two decades ago. Years later, he cooked up Legends Hospitality with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and the Yankees. In 2014, Cardinale struck out on his own to create RedBird, which is known for its investments in AC Milan, Fenway Sports Group, On Location (a partnership with the NFL that he sold to Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor some five years ago), and the UFL, etcetera.

More recently, however, Cardinale has found himself engaged in the old-fashioned media business. IMI has now given Gerry stakes in a media-heavy portfolio that includes the U.K.’s All3Media, Front Office Sports, and EverWonder Studio. RedBird’s stake in Paramount Skydance has given him an interest in CBS News and the Bari Weiss era. And while I have no doubt that Chris Wallace is enjoying his tour of the front office, all expectations are that CBS News is exactly where he is bound to end up, on or off camera. (Andy Gordon, another RedBird alum, has also already gone in-house as Paramount’s chief operating officer.)

Anyway, now Gerry is gearing up to own The Telegraph—and, indeed, that is exactly where Garrahan is bound to end up. Pending U.K. regulatory approval, the historic conservative broadsheet should come into the RedBird portfolio sometime in this quarter or the next; RedBird submitted a formal request for approval on Friday.

Garrahan Solo

Of course, Gerry’s assumption of The Telegraph is the result of yet another unforeseen twist of fate. As you’ll recall, Sheikh Mansour had initially hoped to use RedBird IMI to gain control of the Tory broadsheet for himself. He was rebuffed by British regulators and grizzled Fleet Street veterans who couldn’t countenance Middle Eastern sovereigns owning their storied newspapers. (Their takeover of EPL teams was a different story, I guess.)

In a move viewed either as admirable or xenophobic, the Brits instituted a new law capping foreign state ownership of newspapers at 15 percent. RedBird IMI was forced to take The Telegraph back to market, but was unable to find the right buyer at the right price. Whether opportunistic or noble, Gerry ultimately decided to assume control of the asset himself in a $674 million deal.

In addition to hiring Garrahan, Gerry has also brought in Spectator alum Melissa McAdden as a senior advisor. McAdden served as The Spectator’s chief commercial officer and led its efforts to expand partnerships and diversify revenue streams—a task she is likely to take on for The Telegraph, eventually, with a specific focus on expanding its events business. Garrahan’s role at The Telegraph isn’t set in stone, though the smart money is betting that Gerry intends to name him editor of the paper, replacing Chris Evans, a nearly two-decade veteran who has served as editor since 2014.

Indeed, Evans seems to anticipate that eventual outcome, as well. I’m told that prior to RedBird’s announcement, Evans caught wind of Garrahan’s hire and made his discontent known to some associates—at least one of whom relayed the news back to the FT, which appears to have hastened the timeline for Garrahan’s departure. (He has not officially left the FT just yet.)

Garrahan is a well-liked guy, and he’s presumably using his gardening leave in the higher calling of executive-in-residence gigs to clarify his strategy. Regardless, it would ostensibly seem like Cardinale and his RedBird partners view The Telegraph as an asset that might travel to America as a center-right alternative to The Times (I think it’s fair to say by now that Will Lewis’s repositioning of The Washington Post has gone full-blown Ishtar)—and an asset, too, that might be buttressed with lifestyle or affinity shingles from the RedBird portfolio.

Could Front Office Sports one day be folded in? Will The Telegraph partner with EverWonder? Are there future RedBird acquisitions that might be accretive? These are the fantasies that often lather up middle-aged men in investment committee meetings. Either way, they all remain distinct possibilities. And in a world in which scaled news platforms are dying or dead, The Telegraph represents one of the last real opportunities out there.

In any event, Gerry seems to be familiarizing himself with a sector that he may never have intended to work in, and learning a lot on the fly. When I asked one of Gerry’s friends to explain his media investment thesis, this person replied: “I think he’s figuring that out.”

Puck fashion correspondent Lauren Sherman and a rotating cast of industry insiders take you deep behind the scenes of this multitrillion-dollar biz, from creative director switcheroos to M&A drama, D.T.C. downfalls, and magazine mishaps. Fashion People is an extension of Line Sheet, Lauren’s private email for Puck, where she tracks what’s happening beyond the press releases in fashion, beauty, and media. New episodes publish every Tuesday and Friday.

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