Unless you’re particularly plugged into the private equity sphere or The Telegraph takeover saga, Gerry Cardinale is probably the most powerful member of Liverpool’s ownership structure that you’ve never heard of.
Cardinale is the founder and owner of RedBird Capital Partners, a Madison Avenue-headquartered investment firm with offices in 10 cities worldwide. They claim to have £46bn of assets on their books.
In 2021, RedBird bought a stake in Fenway Sports Group for £533m. That means that they are a Liverpool shareholder once removed.
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And with their 11 per cent stake in FSG roughly matching those held by Tom Werner (chairman) and Mike Gordon (director), Cardinale is one of the most powerful men with the keys to Fenway’s Boston nerve centre. Only John Henry – Liverpool and FSG’s principal owner – owns significantly more shares.
A diagram showing the ownership structure of Liverpool and FSG, encompassing John Henry, Mike Gordon, Tom Werner, Dynasty Equity, Arctos, RedBird Capital and other investors, with TBR Football logo
Liverpool ownership diagram Credit: Adam Williams/TBR Football/GRV Media
But to what extent, if at all, does the 58-year-old actually wield that influence at Anfield?
Well, there is some evidence in how UEFA has handled his investment in another giant of European football, one who are umbilically attached to Liverpool’s history: AC Milan.
RedBird bought the seven-time European champions in August 2022 for around £1bn. It hasn’t been smooth sailing. Cardinale’s all-American, hyper-capitalist approach hasn’t sat well with the traditional Milanese fanbase, but that’s a story for another day.
Fans of AC Milan in sector 'Curva Sud' display the message '
Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images
In terms of his role at Liverpool, UEFA clearly believe that it doesn’t meet their threshold of ‘decisive influence’. Otherwise, Liverpool – who beat Milan 3-1 in the 2024-25 Champions League league phase – would not be allowed to play in the same competition as their RedBird bedfellows simultaneously.
So, it seems that his investment in Liverpool is passive. Rather than involving himself in day-to-day operations, Cardinale seems content to sit back, watch the club’s value appreciate and await an enormous payday when FSG do eventually sell them.
“This is the only time in my career that I have taken a junior role,” Cardinale told The Varsity podcast in late October when asked about his 11 per cent investment in FSG, whose £12bn-valued sports and property empire also includes Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL.
“And it was because of the respect I have for John Henry, Tom Werner and Mike Gordon and the respect I have for Sam Kennedy and his team.
“I made that investment around COVID. I looked at the opportunity and said, ‘I know the intrinsic value of these kind of rights and I think I can buy at an attractive investment point. We have a really fantastic return already on our hands with this, but for me, it was – and this is 25 years into [my career] – about apprenticing with guys like this and seeing what I could learn.
“It’s probably the most uniquely multi-team mode. Certainly, others are trying to catch up to them. It’s the third-most valuable collection of assets like this.
“The way they run them… Look at Liverpool, right? I’ve learned a lot in my entry to European football watching what Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes have done there under Mike Gordon.”
To suggest, however, that Cardinale has no power at Liverpool seems naïve in the extreme, even if he doesn’t intend to use it.
AC Milan owner and Liverpool co-owner Gerry Cardinale looks on
Photo by Claudio Villa/AC Milan via Getty Images
An 11 per cent stake in the club is worth, depending on who you ask, about £400m. That valuation tallies with Dynasty Equity’s three per cent investment in September 2023. So, it’s safe to assume that, when the time comes to cash in on Merseyside, Cardinale will have a voice in those discussions.
When might that point arrive? Cardinale has been vocal about sports teams’ values being a potential bubble, which is when the price of a good surpasses its inherent worth. And even though his comments relate more to US sports franchises, do Liverpool’s underlying financials justify a £4bn-plus valuation?
FSG are yet to make any money at Anfield. Everything is reinvested.
They have been spectacularly successful at increasing revenue. Commercial income – that’s primarily sponsorship, retail and events – has outpaced inflation almost two-fold over the last decade. For context, Man United have actually regressed commercially when adjusted for inflation.
Chart depicting Liverpool's revenue, costs and inflation-indexed turnover
Liverpool – revenue, costs, inflation Credit: Adam Williams/TBR Football/GRV Media
However, a cursory look at the accounts shows that Liverpool have only just broken even in bottom-line terms in 15 years of FSG ownership. Why? Because while revenue is booming, so too are wages, transfer costs and operating expenses.
Until that problem is addressed across the industry – either through a tech-catalysed revenue panacea, an effective new PSR system, or some other structural overhaul – it’s hard to see how that £4bn valuation makes sense.
There’s no doubt that FSG will find a buyer at that price, but what happens after the next? At some point, the club needs to make money day-to-day. Otherwise, it’s what those in the football finance biz call ‘Greater Fool Theory’.