Since Elliott took over from Yonghong Li, their name has been on my radar, and I've been amazed at how many difference places I've seen them mentioned as big stakeholders or influencers. I thought this would be a good place to track news about the firm. Here's an article from today's WSJ morning email about Elliott pushing around AT&T. These guys have some serious clout. https://www.wsj.com/articles/at-t-i...activist-campaign-11571347183?mod=djem10point
@stphnsn this is such a good point. Their record speaks for itself - they are aggressive and just focused on making money, and as you say, their name is everywhere! The more I've looked into them, the more questions I have to be honest. I found this article really interesting - would be keen to know your thoughts https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloeb...to-question-the-ac-milan-owners/#5ced1d8d2f16
I don't think the author has the whole picture. Li paid 700M Euro when he bought the club from Berlusconi, and he financed the purchase with a 300M loan from Elliott, which he then defaulted on. Elliott basically got the club for that 300M. If they'd wanted a quick profit, they could have (probably) turned around and sold for 500M to some oligarch or something and pocketed the 200M. Instead, they've swallowed a ton of debt, and put a lot of money into the club and they're talking about long-term projects like a stadium. They also hired Gazidis, Maldini, and Boban, 3 guys who you wouldn't have gotten to take the jobs if you didn't have a sound plan. Maldini was out of Milan for almost a decade before coming back with these guys. They had to have convinced him they were going to do it the right way. I think they're probably looking at this as a more long-term project with a bigger upside if they can turn around the on-field product and increase the commercial revenue, hence the Gazidis hire. Look what he did at Arsenal: built a world class stadium AND kept the team competitive. I think the plan is to spend a little time and money on the project and sell for 2 billion euro in 10 years instead of 500M immediately. I'm sure they'd sell now if someone (LVMH?) made a crazy offer, but otherwise, they're going to follow the plan in hopes of a bigger pay off later. I suspect they underestimated just how difficult the business of soccer actually is. It's not usually a "just write checks" solution.
Really interesting feed. If you want to hear more from Mr. Li I think he's just joined Twitter: (1/8) I’m a lifelong fan of my beloved #Rossoneri (@acmilan), and their future matters to me today as much as it ever did. I’m so sad at the way things are going now. If there’s any way I can still help, I will. I want to talk and to listen. 🔴⚫#ACMILAN— Yonghong Li (@YonghongLi69) November 19, 2019 .
WOAHH hey there- footballitalia are legit and they just confirmed!! https://www.football-italia.net/146661/yonghong-li-breaks-milan-silence
F-I have a few actual journalists on their staff so I don't think they'd run this without being relatively certain it's actually him. That being said, I don't think he's going to have anything new to say with respect to the club's current affairs. If he had grounds to keep control, he would have exercised them long ago. It would be interesting to hear how or why he let 400M euro of investment just vanish like he did. There are a lot of questions about where he got that part of the money he used to purchase the club.
Completely agree – they have some decent journalists on their staff. If I remember correctly, he never really spoke to the press except for that time that he released a recorded statement. Since he didn’t address his financial situation, reporters, fans etc were never really able to get the full story. But also- if there were questions of his financial capability, why did Berlusconi and Co agree to sell to him in the first place?! Surely that deserves more attention? Really looking forward to finding out more - even if it isn't real, it's just an extra chapter in this whole mad AC Milan story of the last few years!
https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloeb...ants-to-set-the-record-straight/#26235d79719f There's nothing really new here. It sounds like the Chinese thought Elliott would let them refinance, and they didn't have a backup plan when that didn't happen.
good that they're starting to tell their side of the story though, we all deserve to know. i'm still thinking there was some foul play involved cos the whole thing happened so shadily from what David Han Li is saying. don't trust Elliott as far as I can throw them to be honest with you and i don't like what they're doing to the club, where's all the team spirit gone. not even Zlatan's proving our saviour
More LVMH smoke, although soccerbible isn't exactly a reputable source for this type of news... https://www.soccerbible.com/news/2020/06/could-louis-vuitton-be-set-to-buy-ac-milan/
I don't know if this guy knows what he's talking about but Sempre Milan gave him a platform: https://sempremilan.com/sm-exclusiv...-economic-state-new-stadium-and-future-of-ffp
Fingers in everything... https://www.wsj.com/articles/elliot...ake-in-public-storage-sources-say-11607889944