Denis O'Brien facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Denis O'Brien
|
|
|---|---|
O'Brien in 2014
|
|
| Born | 19 April 1958 Cork, Ireland
|
| Education | The High School, Dublin |
| Alma mater |
|
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Chairman and Founder of Digicel Group |
| Title | Executive Chairman Digicel |
| Spouse(s) |
Catherine Walsh
(m. 1997) |
| Children | 4 |
Denis O'Brien (born 19 April 1958) is a very successful Irish businessman. He is the founder and owner of a big phone company called Digicel. For many years, he was known as one of Ireland's wealthiest people. His businesses have included many different areas, like renting out airplanes (Aergo Capital), helping with public services (Actavo), selling fuel (Topaz Energy), and even owning a small part of a football team (Celtic F.C.). Denis O'Brien also does a lot of good work through his charities, like being on the board of Concern Worldwide and starting the Iris O'Brien Foundation. He has also helped students by creating a special scholarship at Boston College.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Denis O'Brien was born in Cork city, Ireland, on 19 April 1958. He grew up in Ballsbridge, a part of Dublin, with his brother and two sisters. His father owned companies that sold medical supplies and horse food. From a young age, Denis went with his father on business trips and learned how to make sales.
He went to The High School in Rathgar. When he was 14, his first job was helping guests at a hotel. At 15, he started working on cleaning buildings.
In 1977, Denis O'Brien earned a degree in politics, history, and logic from University College Dublin. While studying there, he received a scholarship to attend Boston College in the United States, where he completed a master's degree in business (an MBA).
Denis O'Brien's Business Journey
Starting Out in Business
After finishing his studies, Denis O'Brien worked at a small investment bank in Dublin. However, he soon left that job to become a personal assistant to Tony Ryan, who owned a company that leased airplanes. This experience helped him learn a lot about business.
Communications and Media Companies
Denis O'Brien has spent most of his career building companies in the phone and media industries. He has also been involved in energy, aviation, and industrial service companies.
Communicorp
Until 2021, Denis O'Brien owned Communicorp, a large media company that ran radio stations across Europe. He started the company in Ireland in 1989, where it owned popular independent radio stations like Newstalk and Today FM. Communicorp also grew into countries in Eastern Europe and the United Kingdom. In 2021, he sold Communicorp to another media company.
Esat Telecom and Esat Digifone
In 1991, Denis O'Brien created a phone company called Esat Telecom. His goal was to compete with the state-owned phone company in Ireland. Esat, working with a Norwegian company called Telenor, created Esat Digifone. This company successfully won a license to operate Ireland's second mobile phone network.
In 1997, Esat Telecom Group plc became a public company, meaning its shares could be bought and sold on stock exchanges in Ireland, London, and the US. In 2000, Denis O'Brien sold his part of the company to BT, which is a large British telecommunications company.
Aergo Capital
In 1999, Denis O'Brien helped start Aergo Capital, a company that leases airplanes. He owned a large part of this company. Between 1999 and 2014, Aergo Capital bought and sold more than 150 aircraft. In 2014, Denis O'Brien sold his share of the company to a US investment firm.
Independent News & Media
In the late 2000s, Denis O'Brien started buying shares in Independent News & Media (INM), a major newspaper and media group in Ireland. He eventually owned a significant part of the company. In 2019, he sold his shares in INM to a Belgian media group called Mediahuis.
Digicel
In 2001, Denis O'Brien founded Digicel, a phone company that operates in many countries in the Caribbean, Central America, and the Asia Pacific region. He used money from his previous business sales to build a wireless network in Jamaica. Digicel quickly grew and now operates in 25 countries.
Along with the phone company, Denis O'Brien also created the Digicel Foundation. This foundation works with local groups to build schools and health centers, and to help communities recover after disasters. For example, after the terrible 2010 Haiti earthquake, he promised a lot of money to help with recovery. For his contributions, he received special awards from the presidents of Haiti and Jamaica.
In 2020, Digicel made some changes to its finances to manage its debt better. As part of this, Denis O'Brien contributed some of his own money and the company's main office in Jamaica to Digicel. In 2021, Digicel sold its operations in the Pacific region to an Australian phone company, Telstra Corp. This sale was completed in 2022.
Actavo
In 2012, Denis O'Brien bought a company called Siteserv, which helps with public services and utilities. In 2015, the company was renamed Actavo. Actavo expanded into the United States in 2016 and also helped install fiber optic networks for Digicel in the Caribbean.
Topaz Energy
In 2013, Denis O'Brien bought a large amount of debt related to Topaz Energy, a fuel company. In 2014, Topaz announced it would buy all of Esso's operations in Ireland. In 2015, a Canadian company bought Topaz. The sale was completed in 2016. At that time, Topaz was a very big player in the Irish fuel market.
Football
Denis O'Brien has also been involved in football. Between 2008 and 2016, he gave a lot of money to the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) to help pay the salaries of important officials. In 2018, he was made an Honorary Life President of the FAI. He also owns a part of the Scottish football club Celtic F.C..
Other Business Interests
In 1998, Denis O'Brien bought a golf resort called Quinta do Lago in Algarve, Portugal.
Moriarty Tribunal
The Moriarty Tribunal was a long investigation in Ireland that started in 1997. It looked into various matters, including how the mobile phone license was given to Esat Digifone, a company Denis O'Brien was involved with. The tribunal's final report suggested that a government minister at the time helped Denis O'Brien's company get the mobile phone contract. However, the tribunal also noted that a donation made by O'Brien was not intended as a payment for this help. It's important to remember that the tribunal was an investigation, not a court of law, so its findings were not legal judgments.
There were also legal discussions about the costs of this tribunal. In 2018, a court ruled that the State was not entitled to get money from O'Brien's company for any losses related to the mobile phone license. This ruling was upheld in 2021.
Relationship with the Media
Denis O'Brien has sometimes had disagreements with media outlets. In 2013, he sued the Irish Daily Mail newspaper for defamation (publishing something untrue that harms someone's reputation) and was awarded money by the court.
In 2015, a satirical website called Waterford Whispers News was asked by O'Brien's lawyers to remove a satirical article about him, which they did.
In 2019, Denis O'Brien sued the Sunday Business Post newspaper over articles that discussed his loans from Irish banks. The jury in that case found in favor of the newspaper, and the case was dismissed.
Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) Debt
Denis O'Brien had loans from the state-owned IBRC through his companies Siteserv and Topaz Energy. When the IBRC closed down in 2013, there were discussions about his loans.
In 2015, a politician named Catherine Murphy raised questions in the Irish Parliament (Dáil Éireann) about O'Brien's loans from IBRC. Denis O'Brien then took legal action against the Parliament over these remarks, saying they broke rules about parliamentary privilege and his rights.
RTÉ Injunction
In 2015, Denis O'Brien and the person in charge of closing down IBRC successfully asked a court to stop the Irish national broadcaster, RTÉ, from showing a report about his loans from IBRC. The judge said that the public did not have a right to see private banking information.
Later, in June 2015, the court ruled that most of RTÉ's report about Denis O'Brien's financial dealings with IBRC could be published. RTÉ then published a shorter version of the story. Denis O'Brien later wrote an article explaining that he was trying to protect his privacy after confidential files were leaked.
IBRC Commission of Investigation
In 2015, a special investigation was set up to look into IBRC's transactions, especially the sale of Siteserv to Denis O'Brien's company in 2012. This investigation was based on the claims made by politician Catherine Murphy.
In September 2022, the investigation released its final report. It stated that while the sale of Siteserv was done "in good faith," it was based on "misleading and incomplete information." However, the report also said there was no proof that Denis O'Brien received special low interest rates from the bank, as had been suggested. It also found no evidence that O'Brien had an unfair or unethical relationship with senior bank executives.
Recognition
In 2006, Denis O'Brien received an honorary law degree from his university, UCD. In 2019, he received an award for Outstanding Achievement from the Irish-US Council for his work in building connections between Ireland and the United States.
Personal Life
In August 1997, Denis O'Brien married Catherine Walsh. They have four children. His sister, Abigail O'Brien, is a well-known artist.
Sponsorships and Causes
In 2000, Denis O'Brien created the Iris O'Brien Foundation, named after his mother. Through this foundation, he supports many charities. He also helped start Front Line Defenders in 2001, an organization that helps protect human rights activists around the world. He is still the chairman of this group.
Denis O'Brien was also the chairman of the organizing committee for the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games. In 2004, he helped create the Digicel Foundation, which has funded thousands of projects in the Caribbean and Pacific regions.
He has worked with the Clinton Global Initiative, especially after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, to help rebuild important places like the Iron Market in Port-au-Prince. For his help with disaster recovery, he was named a goodwill ambassador for Port-au-Prince and received a Clinton Global Citizen Award. He also helped build 50 schools in Haiti after the earthquake.
In 2015, Denis O'Brien started a scholarship program for Irish students to get an MBA degree from Boston College.
Wealth and Homes
In February 2020, Forbes magazine estimated Denis O'Brien's wealth to be around $3.2 billion.
After buying the Quinta do Lago golf resort in Portugal in 1998, Denis O'Brien sold his home in Dublin and made Portugal his main home. A court officially ruled in 2013 that his home was in Portugal, not Ireland, for tax purposes in the year 2000/2001. Later, in 2006, a company filing listed his home address as Sliema, Malta.
Images for kids
-
Denis O'Brien in 2014
