Destination Miami: Riccardo Silva’s Journey to Miami
Riccardo Silva: Miami. The Magic City. The 305. Mi-yayo. Whatever you want to call it, Miami is one of the few major cities in the U.S. that has (almost) all the pieces of the puzzle put together. Whether it’s nightlife, restaurants, bars, art (thanks to Wynwood), beautiful people, lavish penthouses in exclusive high-rises on Brickell Key, mansion in the Gables, multiculturalism, celebrities galore, the (currently) undefeated Miami Heat or the Miami Dolphins (who are at a respectable 5-3 right now) – Miami has it all.
In enters Riccardo Silva – a 44 year old Italian man who could easily pass as a 30 year old. He’s highly educated, is always exquisitely dressed in fine suits and has a face that says, without words of course, “I mean business.” So who is Riccardo Silva? He comes from a family that owns the chemical conglomerate Italsilva Gruppo Desa in Italy, but he, however, is quite the diversified businessman. Aside from Italsilva Gruppo Desa he also owns multiple companies in the United States and the United Kingdom that deal with the music, restaurant and real estate industries.
But even with all of that going on, he still has another project that is a huge revenue generator – MP & Silva. MP & Silva is a media rights company Silva founded with Andrea Radrizzani and Carlo Pozzali in 2004 that not only manages and allocates sports media rights, but also owns content. And with 18 offices around the globe you can bet that they mean serious business. MP & Silva’s portfolio consists of FIFA World Cup rights (yes you read that correctly), the Grand Slam tennis tournament, baseball, volleyball, Formula 1 and multiple Serie A and Premier League fútbol clubs. MP & Silva reportedly distributes over 10,000 hours of programming to over 500 broadcasters across the globe which translates into an annual turnover of at least $650 million.
His latest power move, however, is a big one, especially if you’re into the fashion/fashion show circuit and modeling market here in Miami. Since its inception in 2001, Mega Models Miami has been without question one of the top agencies in the entire country. Now, it’s now under new management – MP Management that is. Just last month (October 2014) MP Management, one of Silva’s many companies, acquired Mega Model Management in what is sure to be a game changer, and not just for Silva. Mega Models Miami is out – MP Mega Miami is in.
So what brought Riccardo Silva to the Magic City? For that we have to go back to 2008 when he first moved here. Now of course we can’t tell you why (because we aren’t in his head), but I think the opening paragraph summed it up pretty nicely. But if we had to take a very educated guess, we’d say Miami was an in depth look at strategic potential, if that makes sense. What do we mean? One of the first things Silva did after moving to Miami was to open up the Latin American headquarters for MP & Silva (you know, his small $650 million dollar business). And what better location to do that in than Miami. Then when you consider that somewhere around 70% of Miami’s demographics fall under the “Hispanic or Latino” banner, it really becomes apparent what Silva had his eyes set on Miami for.
Riccardo hasn’t stopped there when it comes to making an impact here in Miami. He’s also part owner of Cavalli Restaurant & Lounge, South Beach’s latest go-to destination for celebrities and Miami socialites. Located at 150 Ocean Dr in Miami Beach, Cavalli is the brain-child of none other than fashion designer and icon Roberto Cavalli, making this his first ever “entertainment location” in the United States. Want a preview of what’s inside Cavalli? CLICK HERE.
Bill Gates famously said “Bringing together the right information with the right people will dramatically improve a company’s ability to develop and act on strategic business opportunities.” And from the looks of it, that’s exactly what Riccardo Silva saw Miami for – where he could bring the right people to the right city to act on a strategic business opportunity. That is, after all, why he’s a CEO. He has “CEO vision”. He see’s things most others don’t. And to take that a step further, he’s not just a CEO, he’s a wildly successful one.
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