Randy Lerner

Randolph David Lerner (born February 21, 1962) is an American billionaire investor and former sports-team owner.

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.

Lerner began working as an investment analyst at automobile insurers Progressive Corporation.

In 1991, his father started an independent investment firm with Progressive capital called Securities Advisors, Inc. (SAI), which Al 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 US$ 800 million in the initial public offering (IPO) of the company.

In 1993, Randy Lerner became a director at MBNA.

He became the majority owner of the American football team, the Cleveland Browns, of the National Football League (NFL), upon the death of his father Alfred "Al" Lerner in October 2002.

Upon the death of his father on October 23, 2002, he became MBNA's chairman.

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.

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 US$ 1.1 billion.

On January 1, 2006, Bank of America acquired MBNA Corporation for US$ 35 billion

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 reported in September 2006 that Lerner had moved closer to taking full control of the club, after increasing his share to 85.5%.

By the time that the deadline passed in September 2006, Lerner had secured the acceptance of 89.69% of the shareholders.

Due to the acceptance only being 0.31% below the conditional limit, Lerner accepted it and made the bid unconditional.

On September 19, 2006, Aston Villa PLC executive chairman Doug Ellis and his board resigned, and were replaced by Randy Lerner as chairman with General Charles C. Krulak, Bob Kain and Michael Martin serving as non-executive directors.

At the close of the deal in 2006, Lerner became only the second American owner of a Premiership club.

In June 2011, Lerner appointed manager Alex McLeish, who was previously working from local rivals Birmingham City.

McLeish's contract was terminated at the end of the 2011–12 season after Villa finished in 16th place, just above the relegation zone.

In August 2012, he sold the team.

In 2012, Lerner sold the team to businessman Jimmy Haslam.

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.

On July 2, 2012, Aston Villa confirmed the appointment of former Norwich City manager Paul Lambert.

In February 2012, the club announced a financial loss of £53.9 million.

Lerner put the club up for sale on May 12, 2014, with an estimated value of £200 million.

Lambert was sacked on February 11, 2015 and replaced by Tim Sherwood, who saved Villa from relegation in the 2014/15 season and took them to the 2015 FA Cup Final.

Sherwood was sacked on October 15, 2015, after six consecutive league losses, with Kevin MacDonald taking over as interim manager.

On November 2, 2015, Frenchman Rémi Garde agreed a three-and-a-half year deal to become the manager and was sacked after 147 days.

In April 2016, two members of Villa's board of directors, former Football Association chairman David Bernstein and Lord King submitted their resignations to Villa Chairman Steve Hollis.