The billionaire financier is receiving backlash from both sides of the pond after stepping into the public eye more than ever before
The owner of Fund Management, 49, has made no secret of his ambition to use the Golden Globes and Chelsea FC as vehicles to score even more deals on both sides of the pond. Trouble is, he couldn’t quite prepare for the headlines that come with such high-profile properties. He has become fodder for London’s notoriously aggressive tabloids in the form of an American interference with a beloved British institution. And the entertainment industry hasn’t exactly welcomed his style of management, with powerful Hollywood publicists expressing a lack of confidence in his ability to create more inclusion in scandal-tainted awards shows.
“He has spread himself too thin,” an investment banker who was on the opposite side of dealmaking with Bohli told TheWrap. “He is clearly hugely successful as an investor, but may be a bit more than he can chew with two major deals that require constant attention.”
Boehly’s business empire is now huge, and his dealmaking has him jetting between Los Angeles, New York and London, where he has been attending most of Chelsea’s matches. This is in addition to a $32 billion investment portfolio already managed through his Eldridge Industries holding company, which holds stakes in entertainment brands such as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Lakers, Bruce Springsteen, Epic Games’ song catalog and Golden Globes producer Dick Clark. is the owner of. Productions, MRC, A24 and Fullwell Productions.
To be sure, Bohli is known as a “quiet force of nature” in the hypercompetitive financial world, according to more than one person who has worked with him. He is not known for being charming or sociable, but has developed an image as a tireless dealer who works mostly behind the scenes in his 25-year career.
“I don’t see him as the ropes,” said Joe Ravich, co-founder of merchant bank Rhine Group, which was put in charge of managing the bidders for Chelsea when Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich was forced to sell the team. The homeland invaded Ukraine. “He has an organization of very smart people, but at the end of the day he makes the decisions himself, he shows up, and he knows every detail. If you look back at the Chelsea deal, we wanted someone who would make the right commitment. He was very sure about it. ,
There were widespread reports across Europe and the US that Boehly’s consortium of investors outperformed all of its rivals with a cash-heavy offer. Still, Abramovich “tried not to sell the team to Bohli,” said an entertainment industry executive with knowledge of the deal process. “Todd’s proposal was so richer than anyone else’s that he had to.”
How did Todd Boehley become so rich?
He grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, where he graduated from the private Landon Academy, and then graduated in business administration from the College of William & Mary, which is hardly top-shelf for the business education world . He then earned a degree in finance from the London School of Economics, where he first fell in love with the British metropolis.
Boehly began his career in investment banking, working for Credit Suisse and venture capital firm JH Whitney & Company in New York in 1996, just as tech stocks went gangbusters. His leap to financial services giant Guggenheim Partners in 2001 propelled him into the big leagues, as he worked with chief executive Mark Walter to build a credit management business. Boehly quickly became one of Wall Street’s top advisors, helping clients stay away from fraudulent companies like Enron, whose collapse rocked the markets.
Boehli’s tenacity can be traced back to an anecdote among bankers and hedge fund managers: When Walter sent him to Topeka, Kansas to kick the tires to buy Security Benefit life insurance, Boehli did not like the fact that his There was a foul smell from the hotel room. like cigarette smoke, so that slept on a park bench According to the UK Telegraph, before their meetings. The Guggenheim later bought the company in 2010 for $400 million.
Walter’s mentorship landed both men on Forbes’ list of the 400 richest Americans, and gave Boley the capital to create Eldridge in 2015, cash cows, security benefits, and other assets, such as the media conglomerate, which owned The Hollywood Reporter and Controlled Billboard magazines. , Walter and Bohli also continue to invest together, including cross-holding in Chelsea FC and the Dodgers.
Security Benefits, a life insurance giant whose core date before 1891, Boehly’s investment is the homeland of the ocean of cash. The privately owned company has $50 billion in assets under management and estimated annual revenue of $181 billion from the fixed annuities and mutual funds of its vast, retirement-age clients.
That asset alone is enough to make up for any investment mistakes, including THR, Billboard and several other media trades consortium bought in 2009. During a decade of ownership of the Guggenheim and then Aldridge, The Reporter lost tens of millions of dollars annually as the owners tried to turn around the legacy business. After failing to find a way to profitability or even breaking even with the added blow of the COVID pandemic, Boehly finally struck a deal with Jay Penske in September 2020 that would essentially see him commit to $100 million. The property was given to manage at value. A person with knowledge of the deal told TheWrap that no money changed hands, which had not been previously reported.
Boehly, who did not return a request for comment via a spokesperson, once summarized his career With a mantra: “If I said I was going to do it, I would get it done. And when you have a reputation for being able to get things done, it’s amazing what’s in your inbox.” Things accumulate.”
But these days his inbox can be a little too full. And that hasn’t tarnished his reputation in Hollywood.
“He begged me to meet him,” said a major Studio Awards executive who met Boehly while he was trying to buy the Golden Globes and turn the nonprofit Hollywood Foreign Press Association into a for-profit company. “And then he was just flipping through his phone … he’s like any other rich man: short attention span.”
Other executives in both Hollywood and London reported similar instances when Boehli currently focused more on reading his emails than attending meetings. Sometimes he shortens scheduled encounters or simply fails to show up. “He seemed so deeply displaced during a meeting that he included senior government leaders,” a UK MP said. “And then the speed dating game was scheduled for an hour. It was over in 20 minutes.”
After a Los Angeles Times expo on the organization’s deep corruption and lack of black members, the beleaguered HFPA was asked to be certainly more present during delicate talks to receive a Golden Globe., Tom Cruise returned his three Golden Globe trophies and NBC canceled the 2022 awards broadcast after more than 100 promotional executives launched a boycott.
Boehly has faced additional scrutiny for turning the HFPA into a for-profit entity, which allows Aldridge to retain the show’s millions of revenue for its Dick Clark productions. Eldridge is thought floated To expand award shows overseas, adding even more opportunities to make money. Despite the ongoing controversy, NBC has agreed to re-air the show this January—even if it’s just for a one-year contract.
Much of Hollywood’s fears about Boehly’s financial maneuvering have been covered up by Hollywood’s trade press for one simple reason — he owns them in 2020 through his $100 million deal, which earned him the Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and other headlines. merged its ownership in the media of fellow billionaire Penske. Empires that include Variety and Rolling Stone. Others in the group include Digital Newsroom Deadline.
But that is not going to be so easy in Europe.
Not a day goes by when Boehly’s name isn’t part of the headline in at least one British newspaper, and they’re rarely flattering. “Chelsea fans slam Todd Boehley,” begins one headline in The Daily Mail, while another begins “Todd Boehley blasted” in The Mirror. though he got to some extent To defend this ESPN headline: “Chelsea boss Todd Boehley’s blunders grab headlines, but his message and vision are solid, if unimaginable.”
Some mistakes are just being an American who is quite open about his Ted Lasso-like lack of knowledge about the game. Boehly has mispronounced the names of football academies and players. Initially, the dismissal of Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel angered fans and the UK press – but it didn’t end there.
Boehli’s half-hour speaking space at September’s SALT conference put on by investment management firm Skybridge Capital drew widespread condemnation from UK, Europe and football supporters alike. “I hope the Premier League takes a little lesson from American sports,” he said, before describing how he wanted to create US-style promotional matches like the All-Star Game.
“It’s like when I went to America and lectured about guns, it’s like lecturing us all about football,” said Piers Morgan, a former CNN host and football commentator in Britain, “that a large number of Britons ask are, ‘Why is he telling us how to play our game?'”
Morgan, who will be a commentator for Fox at this year’s World Cup, said Boehli misunderstood what British football is. “It’s not like America where it’s half sport and half entertainment. No fan goes into a match thinking it’s showbiz, because it’s a tribal experience where winning matters. There’s a cultural difference and they’ve left the room. misread it.”
But one executive inside Boehly’s inner circle begs to differ: “Chelsea haven’t lost a match because Todd has changed coaches and the Golden Globes are back on NBC. It’s not exactly a bad record.”
But there’s one room that Boehli hasn’t read wrong—the delicious Italian eatery Polpo in Greenwich, Connecticut, which has become a regular venue for the Wall Street elite, politicians, and celebrities. Boehly owns homes in Connecticut, Los Angeles and London,
Boehly is a regular at the restaurant with everyone from former President Bill Clinton to TV personalities like Judge Judy Schindlin. This is where the deal is made between bites of Veal Saltimboca and Peony arrabiata Cone salsicia. One night at Polpo in 2020, billionaire Steve Cohen asked the Dodgers co-owner for advice while he was trying to buy the New York Mets.
“Hollywood cannot be his environment and London’s sports circles cannot be his environment,” said a Polpo patron who has dined with Bohli several times. “For people like Todd, This It’s their environment.”
Sharon Waxman contributed reporting to this story.
