A major new addition to Milan’s corporate structure. James Fontanella-Khan, currently the US Finance Editor at the Financial Times, will leave the British financial newspaper after more than 20 years to join the Rossoneri as chief corporate affairs officer. The news was reported by Breaker Media, a US-based outlet headquartered in New York that specialises in media, business and finance. According to the report, Fontanella-Khan will remain at the Financial Times until the end of October before beginning his new role alongside Milan owner and RedBird Capital Partners founder Gerry Cardinale.
Fontanella-Khan is expected to split his time between Milan and New York, taking on a role focused on the club’s corporate affairs at a particularly important stage for the American ownership group’s projects. The journalist is a prominent figure in the international financial media landscape. In April 2025, he was promoted by the Financial Times to US Finance Editor, taking responsibility for coverage of major Wall Street firms, as well as private equity, asset management and hedge funds. Previously, among other roles, he served as US Corporate Finance and Deals Editor, as relayed via Calcio e Finanza.
Fontanella-Khan joined the Financial Times in 2005 and has worked in London, Brussels, India and the United States throughout his career, building a team in recent years dedicated to US finance and major corporate deals. Milan’s future executive also has a personal connection to football. Before fully embarking on his journalism career, he played as a goalkeeper in the youth academy of a Serie A club, an experience that came between the second half of the 1990s and the early 2000s.
According to Breaker Media, Fontanella-Khan had also turned down professional offers from Politico and Semafor in recent years, and has now chosen to leave journalism to move directly to the other side of the desk.
Fontanella-Khan alongside Gerry Cardinale
The appointment comes at a time when RedBird and Cardinale are working on several strategic matters related to Milan and, more broadly, their investments across sport and media. Fontanella-Khan already knows RedBird’s founder well on a professional level. In March 2026, he conducted an extensive interview with Cardinale at Milanello for the Financial Times, covering, among other topics, the management of the Rossoneri, the new stadium project and the American investor’s strategy in the sports sector.
Fontanella-Khan’s appointment comes amid a further expansion of Cardinale’s interests, including the project for Milan’s new stadium and evaluations regarding the possibility of bringing an NBA project to Milan in the future.
Fontanella-Khan’s move would therefore represent a high-profile addition to Milan’s corporate structure: a professional with more than 20 years of experience in international financial journalism, extensive knowledge of Wall Street, private equity and M&A transactions, and an established relationship with the RedBird world.
