Ari Emanuel has given Kamala Harris top marks for her performance at last night’s Presidential debate, but says the election’s outcome is still “50-50.”
“She did what she had to do — she had to act like a commander in chief,” said the CEO of mega-agency Endeavor of the Democrat hopeful. “All the other noise is the noises and she passed that. The hardest thing is to get up on that stage, one as a woman, and pass the test ‘can you be commander-in-chief?’, and she did.
“I still think it’s probably 50-50. With 52 days left, I think you’ll see some movement one way or the other and it is toss-up, but she did pass the most important test.” Speaking at the IMG x RedBird Summit at Soho Farmhouse in the UK today, Emanuel joked his brother, prominent Democratic Rahm Emanuel, had handed him the verdict.
Deadline‘s Dominic Patten noted how Harris had repeatedly used the word “weak” to describe Republican candidate, prompting him to turn to fake social media memes and admit his plans for healthcare were currently at “concept” stage.
Emanuel said Kamala’s run since replacing Joe Biden had been remarkable, but noted Trump still had a good chance of victory in November. “I don’t think anybody could have had a better seven weeks than she has had, and I don’t think anyone could have had a worse seven weeks than the former president, but even with that, it is still 50-50, which is nerve wracking,” he added.
Gerry Cardinale, founder and Managing Partner of RedBird Capital Partners, predicted Harris would “probably be the first female president,” but agreed with Emanuel — and the pollsters — that the result is on a knife-edge. “Its has been 50-50 for several elections now,” he said. “The parties have been hijacked by the extreme elements and it ultimately comes down to about three states.”
In a wide ranging conversation this morning at the IMG x RedBird Summit, Emanuel and Cardinale, whose business is backing David Ellison’s $8B Paramount Global acquisition, addressed issues such as sports rights, the entertainment landscape, private equity and acquisitions.
Cardinale said he was unable to comment on Paramount deal directly, but noted built a career on “monetizing intellectual property,” which “rejuvenates itself — you just have to pay attention and adapt to the times.”
Emanuel backed Ellison to successfully lead the business, noting he “cares about the movie and TV business” and sports rights, and had built several successful business at a relatively young age. “You can’t take anything away from him, Now he has a bigger place to play,” he said. “He is curious will take some chances that you need to take, and I think that place will be a success. Gerry has put together a pretty good team – Jeff Shell on operational side and the cost savings, David will do the creative and Gerry will look at how to grow the business creatively both domestically and internationally.
He predicted a “very healthy” U.S. media landscape would form in coming years, once it becomes clear which two out of the American studios would survive as a content platform alongside Netflix, Prime Video YouTube and, potentially, Apple. “For people who supply actors, writers and directors, non-scripted and sports, that’s a very healthy ecosystem. They are people with very deep pockets. That will take approximately two years to flush out.”
Elsewhere, Cardinale commented on sales of the Spectator magazine, which GB News owner Paul Marshall acquired yesterday for £100M ($131M), and The Telegraph newspaper. RedBird IMI, the joint venture Cardinale’s U.S.-based business runs with an Abu Dhabi-based group, had been forced to sell the publications. “The UK establishment didn’t want anyone with ties to the sovereign owning the paper so we decided to sell.”
“I look at The Telegraph holistically, which is news and brings digital,” said Cardinale. “It is not something top-down. If you look at Paramount, or AC Milan [the Italian soccer club RedBird owns], or The Telegraph, goes back to premium, world-class intellectual property that you can rejuvenate.
“What we want to do with Paramount is no different to what we wanted to do with The Telegraph. There is a certain air pocket in the United States in the centre-right and [there is] the opportunity to run these businesses better. If you look any David Ellison is he 41-year-old and he is going to take a fresh look at all of this.
“What’s happening in these businesses of scale [is] you’re only as good as the people who monetize them. It is time for a new guard and a new way of thinking. The establishment that owns this intellectual property don’t want any change and to keep things the same. Everybody wants a better result, but they don’t want to do anything different.”
He noted RedBird IMI was in the “final month or so” of closing a sale of the paper.
Emanuel had queried why RedBird IMI was interested in print assets, but agreed that many businesses needed to refocus to survive in the modern media and entertainment landscape.
“Now, because of all the changes that have happened, ideas matter more than they ever have,” he said. He predicted that those who embrace “fresh ownership thought to an asset… are the people who are going to win and create greater value. If you’re staying at a normal pace and not ruffle feathers, you will never create economic value. That’s what Gerry, Dave and Jeff are trying to do, and what we’re trying to do with the WWE.”
The IMG x RedBird Summit, which is in its second year, brings together major players from sports and broadcasting, with numerous IMG and WME agents in attendance alongside major players such as CBS, ESPN, Netflix, Foxtel and NBC, the worlds of soccer and tennis, and the IOC among others.
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