The video features a compelling conversation with Todd Boley, the visionary investor behind Eldridge Industries, who discusses his strategy of identifying undervalued opportunities across credit markets, sports, media, and entertainment. By leveraging his deep understanding of credit and capital markets, Boley has built a diverse portfolio with over $72 billion under management, demonstrating a knack for making high-impact investments and executing bold, structural changes. He shares how his unique approach, including staying at the top of the capital structure and leveraging cross-industry pattern recognition, helps Eldridge swiftly identify and capitalize on mispriced assets and strategic partnerships globally.

The discussion delves into Boley's multifaceted expansion, such as integrating sports facilities with educational institutions, building robust asset management and insurance platforms, and maximizing brand value through high-profile investments in teams like the Dodgers and Chelsea FC, and events like the Golden Globes. Boley highlights the shift in global economic dynamics, the importance of technological advancements in immersive media experiences, and the rapidly changing landscape in regions like the Middle East. His commitment to innovation, risk management, and long-term partnership underpins his belief in sustainable, scalable growth reminiscent of powerhouses like Berkshire Hathaway, Blackstone, and Apollo.

Main takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. coveted [ˈkʌvɪtɪd] - (adjective) - Highly desired or sought after. - Synonyms: (desired, sought-after, prized)

Early in your career, credit wasn't the most coveted path, but it was accessible to you.

2. underpinning [ˌʌndərˈpɪnɪŋ] - (noun) - The foundation or basis of something. - Synonyms: (foundation, basis, support)

And I think if you look at the size of our banking institutions and the evolution of our capital markets, the underpinning is credit.

3. volatility [ˌvɒləˈtɪlɪti] - (noun) - The tendency to change rapidly and unpredictably, especially for the worse. - Synonyms: (instability, unpredictability, fluctuation)

How is your firm navigating volatility in the crack credit markets right now?

4. pattern recognition [ˈpætərn ˌrɛkəɡˈnɪʃən] - (noun) - The ability to notice and interpret recurring trends or features in data or events. - Synonyms: (trend identification, anomaly detection, signal recognition)

But then when we also see our pattern recognition allows us to identify things that we think, you know, are mispriced.

5. due diligence [duː ˈdɪlɪdʒəns] - (noun) - A comprehensive appraisal of a business undertaken by a prospective buyer to evaluate its assets and liabilities. - Synonyms: (investigation, audit, examination)

So we can do diligence quicker, we can get to the bottom of something easier, we can understand what the operators are talking about and we show up with something that the operator wants.

6. diversifying [daɪˈvɜːrsɪˌfaɪɪŋ] - (verb) - Making something more varied by adding different elements. - Synonyms: (varying, expanding, broadening)

So at last year's iconic class, you spoke about monetizing premium IP and diversifying revenue streams.

7. syndicated [ˈsɪndɪˌkeɪtɪd] - adjective (or verb) - Something (especially a loan or publication) provided or shared by a group for broader distribution. - Synonyms: (shared, distributed, pooled)

It's whether it's been broadly syndicated or not broadly syndicated.

8. insatiable [ɪnˈseɪʃəbəl] - (adjective) - Impossible to satisfy; having a limitless appetite or desire. - Synonyms: (unquenchable, voracious, limitless)

The demand for sports and sports activity around the world is insatiable, right?

9. liquidity [lɪˈkwɪdəti] - (noun) - The availability of liquid assets or cash in a market or business. - Synonyms: (cash flow, solvency, fluidity)

Creating liquidity for limited partners and partners with, in partnership with general partners.

10. infrastructure [ˈɪnfrəˌstrʌktʃər] - (noun) - The basic physical systems and structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise. - Synonyms: (framework, foundation, base)

Saudi needs a lot of infrastructure built, so the opportunity to figure out how to build that.

Billionaire Todd Boehly's Investment Playbook

Well, hello again, everyone. To close out Iconoclast this year, we have Todd Boley, a visionary and iconic investor who sees opportunity where others see risk. He didn't just buy a major stake in the Dodgers, he delivered a World Series. He didn't just acquire the Golden Globes, he transformed Hollywood's biggest night in under a decade. At Eldridge, Todd has built a multibillion dollar empire spanning sports, media and entertainment. The common thread, he makes game waiting decisions before the markets even catch the play. Todd, welcome to Iconoclast. It's great to be here again for the second year in a row. Yes. Yeah. So your superpower seems to be unlocking hidden value in media and intellectual property. In less than a decade since launching Eldridge Industries, you've amassed a constellation of more than 100 companies and over $72 billion in management at your asset management firm, Eldridge. So take us back to the start. Early in your career, credit wasn't the most coveted path, but it was accessible to you. How did you turn it into your edge?

Well, I think credit is the foundation of our capital markets. And I think if you look at the size of our banking institutions and the evolution of our capital markets, the underpinning is credit. And I think if you look at how why America is so successful, it's because we have the best capital markets in the world. And it all starts with credit. And credit was really understanding risk across industries. Right. Because when you think about how credit and equity kind of coexist, ultimately they're just derivatives on the underlying performance of an asset. And if you think about slicing and dicing asset returns and you think about how much risk you need to take in order to or how much return you need to get in exchange for how much risk you're going to take, I think you can start with the asset. What is the asset likely to return? How volatile is that? And then you figure out, how am I going to price the risk? And I think senior secured risk. And credit is a business that you can be in day in and day out. I think unsecured investment grade risk is a risk that you want to take sometimes when it's cheap and then when it gets too tight, you want to, you know, not be involved. And I think high yield bonds are the same. If you look at the returns over 20, 30 from 10 years ago at the end of 14 to the end of 24, and you look at the US investment grade bond returns on Bloomberg, the index, cumulatively you will have made 28% over 10 years, which is less than 3% per year. When you take into compounding, if you own high yield bonds over that same period, you would have made roughly 65% according to the Credit Suisse High Yield Bond Index. That's now the UBS index. If you would have owned the Senior Secured Loan index over that same period of time, which you have seniority to the unsecured high yield bonds, you have floating rates, so you don't have interest rate risk, that's closer to 67, 68%. So I've always thought that that credit business at the top of the capital structure was, you know, a really good business. And as private credit continues to grow, you know, which to me is kind of a silly name for it because senior secured lending has always been a private business. It's whether it's been broadly syndicated or not broadly syndicated. But ultimately the risk that you're taking is similar. Is the company worth the debt? Right. As long as the company's worth the debt, you know, whether it's a rocky ride or not, right. You're going to get your money back. So to be able to have so much opportunity to have a front row seat and look at these companies as a lender, knowing that, you know, it's, it's kind of like you're dating instead of getting married because it's easy to get out of, right. And you're kind of got a front row seat without being fully committed. So it was a great way to learn a lot about a lot of different industries at scale.

And so taking that a step further, you have deep roots also in asset management. How is your firm navigating volatility in the crack credit markets right now? Again, I think our core focus is staying at the top of the capital structure, making good loans to good businesses. But then when we also see our pattern recognition allows us to identify things that we think, you know, are mispriced. And you know, ultimately if we see value in something, then we want to be able to move really quickly. And I think one of the things that we're set up to do is to be able to move really quickly. And one of the great things about the collection of companies that we have and the collection of businesses is when we were looking at a media opportunity, we can bring a 24 into the mix, right, because a 24 is really interested in what's going on in the industry, but because they also have to make movies and content every day and that's their core business. If we are out there scouting for what's going on in the industry and we see new things and we bring them in. Frankly, it allows us to get the diligence quicker, it allows us to expand our reach, to be able to understand something more easily. And from the company who we bring a 24 to meet, that's seen as a real edge too. So we can do diligence quicker, we can get to the bottom of something easier, we can understand what the operators are talking about and we show up with something that the operator wants. Right. So that collection of capabilities is really what we try to distinguish ourselves with.

So at last year's iconic class, you spoke about monetizing premium IP and diversifying revenue streams. And it seems your strategy is paying off. What does the next chapter of growth look like for Eldridge? Well, we announced that we're building an asset management business. And so what we're doing is identifying strategies where we think there's a lot of scale and where we not only want to be big investors, but we want to leverage into that scale by starting to manage third party money again. So going back to kind of where we started with Guggenheim, which was managing third party money and growing that asset management business, and now we've been over the last 10 years building our own balance sheet and making our own investments and we see places where we see good opportunity and not only do we want to be big investors, but we want to bring others along for the ride. So we've consolidated Marinon, Kane, Pantagram, Stonebriar and that's given us a larger, more diverse credit manager with a sports and media entertainment angle that we think is, is really unique.

So I can't help myself, the journalist in me. You said you're seeing opportunities that are interesting to you. What broadly can you say about what those opportunities look like? Well, I think one of the transactions that we did recently was we were able to buy a secondary position in partnership with Dial Blue Owl. So we bought a 10% stake of Dial Fund 3. And what we like about that business is that there's so many elements of return, right? You get a share of the fee related earnings and general partners, you get a share of their, their balance sheet. So anytime they make any dividends or distributions, you participate there and you get basically a long dated portfolio of call options in the form of carry, because carry and a portfolio company is to us really a really long dated call option that has no maturity. But what it has is an increasing call price based on the limited partner hurdle. So I think that was an exciting transaction for us and we like how it was a good win win for us and Blue Al. And, you know, the cash flows are coming in, you know, as good or better than anticipated. But I think finding things where we can apply our structuring capabilities in order to capitalize on opportunities. Because our whole goal in the end is really to use structure to take the potential below zero return outcome off the table. And if we're always thinking about how do we not lose money and then we think about how to make money, right? There's never really a problem in finance or business or investing, you know, if you don't lose money, right? It's ultimately when you lose a lot of money that you suffer a lot of pain. So what we try to do is to use structure to change the odds, because we think that this is really just all odds. And if we can use structure to change the odds, you know, then we're excited about that one that we're, you know, interested that I've talked about lately is, you know, St. James, right? This is a athletic facility, 550,000 square feet. We've got probably the best facility in the world. And what's happening is sports with nil, right? College is now professional. So high school is becoming what college was. You know, the demand for sports and sports activity around the world is insatiable, right? So if we're younger and younger and if we're building the best facilities and now what we're doing is launching schools, right? Then we have every day part, people come in in the morning, they come in in the evening, they come in during the summer. You know, we have the women's football soccer team in D.C. practicing at our facility. We have Kevin Durant's high school basketball team. We have the little Caps, you know, the hockey team. Now, by having a school, the only day part that we didn't have covered was, was the school debt. So now we've launched a school. So we have several hundred kids coming to school every day there. Well, what we've really found is that because we have the best real estate, we get the best coaches. Because we get the best coaches, we get the best athletes. And then when you think about what we are actually doing for them, before the St. James had a school, and frankly, I think school as we know it is changing. And the idea that you need to be in school for eight hours a day is absurd, right? It's really like a babysitting exercise more than a schooling exercise in a lot of ways. So we've reduced the schooling element to being a couple hours a day. And these kids now can practice what they want to practice every day. Every day. And they don't have to come spend all these hours in school, run home, eat some food, run back out to practice, get back home late, go to bed, get up early. So by consolidating all of that, we've actually created a, a lot of time for them. And we think we're going to have the best school as well as the best facilities. And we're probably going to. By the end, we'll have one in every city that has a professional sports team. It also gives you a good playbook pipeline, right? A lot of good pipeline. A lot of good pipeline.

So zooming out a bit, still staying on the strategy playbook. You've described your ambition to build a business that compounds like Berkshire Hathaway and scales like Blackstone or Apollo. How do you think about meeting the demands of both models under one roof? Well, we've obviously been investing our own balance sheet and for, for over a decade. And that's grown from kind of 2 billion to about 15 billion today. And the activities that are going to take us from 15 to 50 or beyond are different than what goes from 2 to 15. So we have to continuously retune the playbook. And now as we think about what are the strategies where we want to be investors and we want to grow and scale the asset management business and we want to do it a little differently than the way it's been done before. So obviously, big in credit, big in real estate, credit, sports and media is growing around the world. So we want to be leaders there now. Creating liquidity for limited partners and partners with, in partnership with general partners. We think that's going to continue to be a big business. You know, I see, you know, advantage and opportunities all around the world. I think Japan is offering some really interesting opportunities. So we're figuring out how to, how to, how to grow there.

You also recently established a presence in Abu Dhabi, making a strategic move into the Middle East. What specific opportunities do you see in that region? The Middle east is one of the most exciting places in the world right now, right. I think the combination of excess capital coming out of Qatar and the UAE with partnership mindset that once you've been there enough and you've gotten to know them and spend time, they really care a lot about you. So you have to go and put the real effort in. But they're great partners. They're now my partners in student housing. They're my partners in Amman. They're my partners in Gamma the music label. So we've built a really good relationship. So to be able to export kind of our network, our capabilities, our contacts and provide access to their capital. Because Doha's fully built out. Doha's now competing for the 2035 Olympics. And I think when you see what they're doing and how they're doing it, I think they have a really long term mindset. So if you want to build a business for the next 40, 50 years, I don't think there's any place better to be than that part of the world. And then if you look at what's going on in Saudi, for example, Saudi needs a lot of infrastructure built, so the opportunity to figure out how to build that. So we're working directly with the Saudi government now to think about insurance. They don't have insurance, so they need to build an insurance industry because that also allows for the development of their infrastructure. Because insurance companies are the perfect place to have long term asset management strategies. Because unlike banks, you're not going to have a run on the bank. The money is locked up long term and it's compounding and it's just growing. Right. So it's a completely different mindset than a bank lending money. Which is why I think that insurance companies continue to be more and more in demand. Because part of your sweet spot, right? Security, benefit, but also Zinnia. Zinnia is our number one insurtech platform. Right. We now process 55% of the annuities on the Zinnia platform. And you know, one of the things that's great about the insurance industry is there's more hundred year old insurance companies than any other industry, which is a testament to the business model and the staying power of the business model. And as people get older and older, they start in America in particular right now, they start to be thinking about like what cash am I going to get every year? You're not thinking about ROEs, you're not thinking about rates of return, you're not thinking about IRRs, you're thinking about how many dollars are going to come in. So last year the annuity business was over 400 billion. And we think it's just going to keep getting bigger. And Zinnia is the number one platform to manage a policy from the time that the order happens to the time that the claim is resolved. So we've built that platform and you know, through both, like just building it organically, but then we've added through acquisition some elements that we didn't have and now we've got an end to end platform that can process, you know, every kind of life and annuity policy out there. Gary Cohn just joined as our vice chairman. Right. You know, because he sees that there's massive amount of demand. You have to outsource this because changing the tech of these insurance companies that's 100 years old is really hard, you know, and I experienced it myself with Security benefit, which is why we bought Everly. And Everly is going to be one of the first digital insurance companies that's going to be able to plug right into the, you know, so far the Robinhoods, the Etoros, you know, in a, in a really seamless way, which we frankly think that, you know, the other legacy carriers are going to have a harder time with just because they're tech.

So it sounds like finding the right insurance opportunity is a really great opportunity in the market right now. I think insurance is, you know, an asset class that is still under allocated to. And you think about like, you know, there's a big insurance gap still in America. Right. Everyone should have 10 times their income in insurance. Everyone should have, you know, insurance up to the age 65 pretty much locked in. Right. And you know, I think as you, the IRS changed its rules a couple two years ago and now if you think about insurance, really it's just a chassis, right. So it goes out and it buy things if you buy it used to be you had to buy a certain amount of death benefit in order to have deferral of taxes on your investments. Well, that element of death benefit that you now have to buy has reduced so you can have more dollars if you set up an insurance policy properly deferring taxes in perpetuity. And then you can borrow against it if you want or you could use it as collateral. Right. You can do things really creatively to use the policy. So I hope Everly is going to end up being like the number one insurance company for toddlers because if you start compounding when you're, you know, zero, it starts to add up. So you're looking for all possible revenue streams across all ages, all industries, across the board.

So I want to make sure with the time we have left, we get, get into sports. Right. How are your investments across the mlb, NBA and Premier League performing right now? I mean, I think sports is just so in demand and I think that, you know, we're, we're thrilled with all of them. I think the Dodgers are going to be the first team to add a billion dollars of revenue. And when do you predict that? I Think this year we'll do it. Okay. Yeah. So if you, you know, look at how it's going, you know, you know, the, the Dodgers are firing on every cylinder possible and I think the team is now the team of Japan. It's going to become the team of Korea. We just got viewership in Asia and Japan. Right. Was even higher for the World Series than in the US If I'm correct. Right, that's right. I mean, you know, obviously we've got three of the best Japanese players and, you know, one Shohei Ohtani, who, you know, is the, you know, the most, probably the best player of all time.

So shifting to Chelsea, they've experienced multiple managerial and strategic shifts. How are you approaching long term stability while balancing performance? Well, I think we've got up the learning curve pretty quickly. I think we have a really solid team and we know what we're trying to make additions to right now in order to fill out the robustness of the team. I think we found a manager who is aligned in the long term vision. And a lot of these, we've seen a lot of these guys become really good leaders. So we have really strong leaders in the clubhouse now. And I think that, you know, we're, you know, this goal this year was to get 70 points. We thought 70 points would guarantee us Champions League. We got 69 points and we got Champions League. We were fourth. We're now going to get ready to play in the Club World Cup. The Club World cup is going to be an exciting competition that, you know, if you win, you'll make $100 million. So, you know, I think we're really excited about that coming to America in advance of the, of the World cup next year. And, you know, as a, as a, as a brand, we think Chelsea is, you know, as good as it gets.

Okay. What do you see as the biggest growth opportunity in sports media in the next five years? I think you're going to start to see all types of really interesting immersive experiences. I think you're going to be able to go into an immersive environment and feel what it's like to, to try to defend a Cole Palmer goal kick. I think you're going to be able to start to see, taste these different elements of the sports that right now are not in reach, but with technology and Cosm and Sphere and immersive experiences like ANA and House of Hype and all these things that are developing team Labs, we think the technology's coming where you're going to be able to experience things Firsthand, and you're going to be able to have a taste of what it's like to really be on the pitch. And I think the speed of this game in football, for example, is insane. So when you see it firsthand, even when you're watching it live versus tv, it still doesn't capture it. So I think there's a big opportunity to continue to figure out how to experience that. But this intellectual property, you know, you're going to be able to repurpose it and you're going to be able to think different ways to use it. You know, I think Arsenal's done a really good job with their Diamond Club, so I think they're going to be able to continue to offer, you know, great access, great experience. And I think people in this world are really excited about access and experiences, more so than, you know, just products. I think you're seeing it with lvmh. LVMH right now is thinking a lot about luxury travel as opposed to just luxury product, you know, so we're seeing it with flexjet in our portfolio there, you know. You know, the people are willing to spend money on things that, you know, are different than just product. It's becoming more and more experiences.

So we're almost out of time, but I want to double back on Chelsea. Congratulations on the Conference League win and the Champions League qualification. What a way to mark three years of ownership. You've made several bold changes in that time, and this moment reflects that payoff, perhaps the first of many. Through it all, Rhys James, your captain and blue since the age of seven, has been a constant. This embrace, which I think we have up above on screen, felt symbolic. You're not known to be an overly emotional person, but tell us what that moment meant for you. Well, you know, Reese, he's. He's become a real leader, and watching him develop over the course of the last couple of years, because he's had a lot of struggles. And, you know, the reality is kind of how. How we experienced our first couple of years was a little bit of a parallel of how Rhys's last three years have been. And so to get ourselves back to the top, top of world football was a great moment. And to see Reese back on the pitch, I think he played 35 times this. This year or something, and, you know, it was as many times as he's been on the pitch the last couple of years. So, you know, and the other thing that Reese. Reese gave me a lot of credibility because he was our first signing when we got the club and he, we extended him and you know, he was like the rock. And all I heard was real Madrid want some. Real Madrid wants him. So I was panicked when I got there and you know he's the best right back in the world. So for him to kind of sign up and commit to us and then go through what you know, kind of we collectively went through and then to, to make it how we made it and get back and to watch Reece, I mean, you know, if you haven't seen his assist against Man United that pretty much single handedly won the game. We had to win eight out of nine games at the end end in order to accomplish what we had to accomplish. And a lot of it came down to that guy's leadership and watching him on the pitch, I mean the class is just insane. So the assist he had against Man United basically sums up, you know, the type of player but more importantly, you know, not only a great player but becoming just the best leader and a captain who, you know, has been to Kelsey through and through and you know, he means so much to the club and the club means so much to him.

So I know we're already out of time, but I remiss if I didn't ask you one last question. This about the Golden Globes which have significantly expanded under your ownership. I understand There are now 400 voters from over 90 countries making it one of the most globally diverse voting bodies in the world. You've all still hosted several events around the world throughout the year. Are there any plans? I was just in India with Prime Minister Modi and there was a huge emphasis on bringing US media and entertainment to Asia, in particular to India. Are there any plans to take the Golden Globes on the road? I mean, I think the Golden Globes is the celebration of the best of the best and it was the first one to have both TV and film. So the idea that it's a global opportunity is tremendous. India is a big market opportunity. The Middle east is a big market opportunity. You know, the Middle east is really focused on telling the Middle east stories and I think the Golden Globe will be there. Golden Globes will be there to celebrate the best of the best all around the world. It stands for luxury and fashion. And as we're building one Beverly Hills at the site of the Beverly Hilton, you know, we're going to continue to up the game and the Golden Globes are going to continue to be be there alongside supporting the best of the best. And I think it's really a testament to the strength of the brand to see what it got through and then what it now is. And so I think we're just in the early innings of what the Golden Globes can mean. All right. So we'll stay tuned. Well, Todd Boley, thanks for joining us at Iconoclast. Thank you.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION, GLOBAL, SPORTS INVESTMENT, ASSET MANAGEMENT, MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT, FORBES