How Todd built the fortune
Todd Boehly's career has two phases. For roughly fifteen years he was a senior executive at Guggenheim Partners, where he helped turn a family office into a large global financial firm with big businesses in insurance and asset management. As president of the firm he worked on deals that combined permanent insurance capital with investment management, a structure that later became central to his own company.
In 2015 he separated part of that platform and formed Eldridge Industries, based in Greenwich, Connecticut. Eldridge is a privately held investment company that owns operating businesses outright rather than managing outside funds on a fixed timetable. Its largest bets are in financial services, especially life insurance and annuities, which generate large pools of long-term capital that can be invested in credit and other assets. Those businesses are the main engine of Boehly's wealth.
Sports and entertainment gave him a public profile. He was part of the group that bought the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012, and a decade later he led the consortium that acquired Chelsea Football Club in London.
The insurance model at the heart of Eldridge works on a long horizon. Annuity and life insurance customers pay premiums today in exchange for payments years or decades later, and the insurer invests that money in bonds, private loans and other assets in the meantime. Owning both the insurer and the investment management capability lets the group capture the spread between what it earns on those assets and what it owes policyholders, which is a large and recurring source of profit when managed well.
Companies and holdings
Boehly's interests span several industries. Key holdings and roles include:
- Eldridge, the holding company he founded and runs as chairman and chief executive
- Security Benefit, a life insurance and retirement savings company in the Eldridge group
- a co-owner stake in the Los Angeles Dodgers through Guggenheim Baseball Management
- a minority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers and an interest in the Los Angeles Sparks
- a co-controlling interest in Chelsea FC through BlueCo, alongside Clearlake Capital
Eldridge has also invested in entertainment and media businesses over the years, including television production and trade publishing, as well as in real estate and restaurants. Through BlueCo, Boehly's group has added other football clubs, including RC Strasbourg in France, as part of a multi-club strategy.
Early life and career
Boehly was born in 1973 and grew up in the Washington, D.C., area in Maryland. He attended the College of William and Mary in Virginia, where he wrestled, and spent time studying at the London School of Economics. After graduating he started his career in the corporate finance group at Citigroup and then moved to the investment firm JWM Partners.
He joined Guggenheim Partners in 2001 and rose quickly, eventually becoming its president. During that period he played a key role in the Dodgers purchase and in building Guggenheim's insurance businesses. His departure to found Eldridge in 2015 took several of those assets and teams with him and gave him direct control over a diversified group of companies.
The Dodgers deal was a turning point. Guggenheim's group paid a then record price for a professional sports franchise, and critics argued it had overpaid. Over the following years the team's value, television revenue and on-field results all rose, and the investment came to be seen as one of the most successful in modern American sports ownership. It also gave Boehly experience he later drew on in London.
Philanthropy and public life
Boehly's charitable giving is less publicized than his business dealings. He has supported his alma mater William and Mary, including its athletics programs, and has backed charities connected to the sports franchises in which he holds stakes. Much of his public visibility comes instead from his roles in professional sports.
At Chelsea, where he briefly served as interim sporting director after the 2022 takeover, the ownership group spent heavily on players and was closely watched by fans and the British press. His comments at industry events about bringing American sports ideas such as an all star game to English football drew attention and debate. He remains one of the more prominent American owners in European football.