Milan have managed to reduce their losses by around €130m over the last three years, a sign of the club’s increased stability after the Li Yonghong era.
La Gazzetta dello Sport details how the Rossoneri had net losses of around €73m in the 2016-17 financial year, the last of Silvio Berlusconi’s time in charge of the club. A year later, with Li Yonghong at the helm, this figure rose to €126m, and it would continue rising under the management of Paul Singer and Elliott Management.
In the 2018-19 financial year Milan had losses of €145.9m and 12 months later, when the season was interrupted by the COVID pandemic, these losses peaked at €194.6m, creating anxiety on the Lombardy capital.
Things have really turned around since then, with the help of Elliott’s management and work behind the scenes. Returning to the Champions League and agreeing new sponsorship deals allowed the club to start turning things around, visible in their 2020-21 balance sheets, when the losses were recorded at €96.4m.
In their most recent financial statements, Milan reported losses of just €66.5m, a €130m drop compared to three years ago. The Rossoneri have now returned to the upper echelons of Italian football and are finding their footing in the Champions League once again, a competition that eluded them in the last decade.
Gerry Cardinale and RedBird are now the owners of the club, completing a €1.2 billion takeover earlier this year, and their suggestions that the team are a ‘sleeping giant’ are signs that big things are still to come on the horizon.