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Richard J. Birns

Richard
Birns

Partner

CONTACT INFO

rbirns@gibsondunn.com

TEL:+1 212.351.4032

FAX:+1 212.716.0830

New York

200 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10166-0193 USA

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PRACTICE

Private Equity Mergers and Acquisitions Shareholder Activism Sports Law

BIOGRAPHY

Richard Birns is co-chair of Gibson Dunn’s Private Equity Group.  He regularly represents private equity firms and companies on domestic and cross-border leveraged buyouts, strategic mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, carve-outs, minority investments and joint ventures.

He is recognized as a leading lawyer by Legal 500 as well as Chambers USA, where clients describe him as “smart and tenacious”.  Richard was named a Private Equity MVP by Law360 in 2019.

His recent experience includes advising:

  • Elliott Investment Management L.P. and its affiliate, Evergreen Coast Capital Corporation, on acquisitions and dispositions, including the $16.5 billion acquisition of Citrix Systems, Inc. and the $16 billion acquisition of Nielsen Holdings plc. He also advised Elliott Management on its acquisitions and dispositions of Gigamon, athenahealth, Travelport, LogMeIn and Cubic
  • Motive Partners in its strategic and financial partnership with Apollo Global Management, Inc., to capitalize on significant technological transformation and innovation in financial services
  • Goldman Sachs in connection with its investment in Oncoclínicas, a Brazilian medical-care provider, and subsequent IPO
  • Hazel, the independent fintech launched in partnership with Walmart and investment firm Ribbit Capital, on their acquisition of fintech platforms Even and ONE.

Richard is also chair of the firm’s Sports Law Group, and has extensive experience in the technology, media, sports and entertainment sectors. He advises on some of the most high-profile transactions in these sectors, including representing:

  • Redbird Capital Partners in a number of significant acquisitions, including Italy’s Associazione Calcio Milan (AC Milan Football Club), the newly crowned Champions of Serie A; the acquisition of a majority stake in the Toulouse Football Club; and the acquisition from The Walt Disney Company of the YES Network, a regional sports network, by an investor group that included Yankee Global Enterprises, Sinclair Broadcasting Group, Blackstone and Amazon.com
  • Affiliates of Yankee Global Enterprises and the Dallas Cowboys, in connection with a sale of Legends Hospitality to Sixth Street.

Graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in History from Georgetown University, Richard earned his Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and member of the Columbia Law Review.  He clerked for Judge Milton Pollack of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, from 1997 to 1998.

Richard is a leader in the community and active in a number of non-profit organizations, including serving as co-chair of the U.S. Soccer Foundation’s New York Leadership Council.

 

EDUCATION

Columbia University - 1997 Juris Doctor

Georgetown University - 1994 Bachelor of Arts

ADMISSIONS

New York Bar

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Client Alert - August 9, 2022 | Annual Activism Update – 2021
Firm News - October 29, 2021 | Richard Birns and Theodore Olson Named Sports Law Power Players
Client Alert - February 22, 2021 | M&A Report – 2020 Year-End Activism Update
Client Alert - October 9, 2020 | M&A Report – 2020 Mid-Year Activism Update
Client Alert - May 11, 2020 | M&A Report – 2019 Year-End Activism Update
Client Alert - April 7, 2020 | A World Without Sports – What Happens Now?
Client Alert - March 31, 2020 | COVID-19 Resources for Non-Profits and Small Businesses (NJ, NY & CT)
Firm News - November 12, 2019 | Law360 Names Nine Gibson Dunn Partners as 2019 MVPs
Client Alert - October 7, 2019 | M&A Report – 2019 Mid-Year Activism Update
Firm News - June 20, 2019 | Gibson Dunn Transactions Named Private Equity Deal of the Year and Consumer, Retail, Food & Beverage Deal of the Year by The Deal
Client Alert - March 25, 2019 | M&A Report – 2018 Year-End Activism Update
Client Alert - October 3, 2018 | M&A Report – 2018 Mid-Year Activism Update
Client Alert - January 29, 2018 | M&A Report – 2017 Year-End Activism Update
Client Alert - August 15, 2017 | M&A Report: 2017 Mid-Year Activism Update
Client Alert - January 9, 2017 | M&A Report – 2016 Year-End Activism Update
Article - August 29, 2016 | How a New Defensive Line Can Protect Sports Properties
Article - August 17, 2016 | Fiduciary Duties, Reverse Endorsements and Fundraising in ‘Jeter’
Client Alert - August 16, 2016 | M&A Report – 2016 Mid-Year Activism Update
Client Alert - February 2, 2016 | M&A Report: 2015 Year-End Activism Update
Client Alert - August 10, 2015 | M&A Report – 2015 Mid-Year Activism Update
Client Alert - January 30, 2015 | M&A Report – 2014 Activism Update
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