Randy Lerner

Randolph David Lerner (born February 21, 1962) is an American billionaire investor and former sports-team owner. He became the majority owner of the American football team, the Cleveland Browns, of the National Football League, upon the death of his father Alfred "Al" Lerner in October 2002. In August 2012, he sold the team. Lerner became the owner and chairman of English club Aston Villa F.C. of the Premier League in 2006, subsequently Lerner sold the club at a loss in 2016 following their relegation. His personal fortune has been estimated at over 1.1 billion."#1694 Randolph Lerner : Net Worth As of 28 February 2020"
''Forbes''

Early life and education

Lerner was born to a Jewish family and graduated from Columbia University in 1984, spending 1983 at Clare College, Cambridge. He graduated from Columbia Law School and is a member of the New York and District of Columbia bar associations. He has worked as a lawyer in New York City.

Business career

Lerner began working as an investment analyst at automobile insurers Progressive Corporation. In 1991, he started an independent investment firm with Progressive capital called Securities Advisors, Inc. (SAI), which he owned and managed until 2001. SAI initially specialized in arbitrage before shifting its focus to equity investing.

His father, Alfred "Al" Lerner, had been appointed chairman of MBNA Corporation after investing 800 million in the initial public offering (IPO) of the company. In 1993, Randy Lerner became a director at MBNA. Upon the death of his father on October 23, 2002, he became MBNA's chairman. On January 1, 2006, Bank of America acquired MBNA Corporation for 35 billion.

Sports team ownership

Cleveland Browns

When his father, Al Lerner, died in October 2002 – four years to the day after he was awarded the new Browns franchise - the ownership of the team passed on to Lerner. Lerner served as a member of the National Football League's Business Ventures Committee. In 2012, Lerner sold the team to businessman Jimmy Haslam."Cleveland Browns' sale to Jimmy Haslam complete"
by Gregg Rosenthal, NFL website, August 2, 2012"Browns’ Jewish ownership going, going, gone"
by Matt DeFaveri, ''Cleveland Jewish News'', August 2, 2012

Aston Villa F.C.

During his time at Cambridge, Lerner followed English football, taking an interest in three teams: Arsenal, Fulham and Aston Villa. Although he had grown up in the United States, with a father who had been involved with the Cleveland Browns franchise under Art Modell, Lerner's interest in English top flight football endured long after he had returned to the United States.

In July 2006, it was reported that Lerner intended to purchase Premier League club Aston Villa, following a statement from Cleveland Browns management indicating that Lerner was pursuing "business interests" in the United Kingdom. Lerner pulled out of the bid to buy Aston Villa two days later after talks with club chairman Doug Ellis broke down, but the following day, reports emerged that Lerner was still considering a formal £64m bid for the club.

In August 2006, it was confirmed Lerner had reached a £62.6m agreement with Aston Villa to take over the club. The statement to the London Stock Exchange confirmed that 60% of the club's shares, including the 39% stake of Doug Ellis had been sold to Lerner, beating competition from consortia led by Michael Neville, Nicholas Padfield QC, and Athole Still. Eleven days after the announcement, the LSE confirmed that Lerner had secured 59.69% of Villa shares, making him the majority shareholder. Lerner appointed himself Chairman of the Board of the club.

The BBC
...