JUST IN: Former CNN Chief Jeff Zucker to Lead Sports-and-Media Investment Firm

DON EMMERT/AFP

Former CNN chief Jeff Zucker is back in the media business as he has been tapped to lead a sports-and-media investment firm.

Zucker will lead RedBird Capital Partners, which will have a $1 billion joint venture with Abu Dhabi-based International Media Investments. According to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported this development on Tuesday, Zucker “will focus on building, buying and investing in sports, media and entertainment entities around the world.”

“It’s a time of tremendous change in large part because of technology,” Zucker told the Journal. “This is also an incredibly exciting time around what comes next.”

According to the Journal:

Both RedBird and IMI already have sizable investments in sports and media properties. RedBird owns a minority stake in Fenway Sports Group, the owner of the Boston Red Sox and the Liverpool Football Club; a stake in SpringHill Co., LeBron James’s entertainment company; and a stake in Skydance Media, the entertainment company started by film producer David Ellison. Meanwhile, IMI owns all or a piece of a number of media companies in the United Arab Emirates, including English-language news outlet the National. It also has a minority stake in European news channel Euronews.

Mr. Zucker met RedBird founder and CEO Gerry Cardinale earlier this year through a mutual friend to discuss possible opportunities. While the two executives were at Harvard University together, they had never met, they said. At the time, Mr. Zucker was also having discussions with IMI, a private company owned by the U.A.E., about potential opportunities to work together.

During Zucker’s tenure at CNN, IMI and CNN International Commercial came together to form CNN Business Arabic.

Zucker resigned from CNN earlier this year after he failed to disclose a romantic relationship with a subordinate.