John de Mol
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Johannes "John" Hendrikus Hubert de Mol (born 24 April 1955 in Hilversum) is a Dutch media tycoon and billionaire. In 2005, Forbes magazine named him as one of the 500 richest people in the world. . De Mol is one of the men behind production companies Endemol and Talpa.
[edit] De Mol starts Talpa
In 2005 de Mol founded a new television channel Talpa, which owns the broadcasting rights for Dutch premier league football and also produces the popular show Expedition Robinson. A number of the previously mentioned programmes now appear on Talpa.
The name Talpa is the Latin word for mole (the animal), mol in Dutch, which refers to the surname of John de Mol. Talpa had its official opening night on August 13, 2005. It broadcasts only in the evenings, as it shares its channel with Nickelodeon. Talpa announced that in late 2006 or early 2007, they will start a second channel.
[edit] Private life
De Mol was formerly married to singer and actress Willeke Alberti. The actor Johnny de Mol is their son.
Outside of television, De Mol controls a large private equity fund which owned significant shares of auto manufacturer Spyker Cars, football team Manchester United and telecommunications company Versatel.
John's sister, actress Linda de Mol, appears in and presents some of his programmes, including the original Dutch version of Deal or No Deal. She also presented one of Endemols first productions The DJ Kat Show.
According to Het Financieele Dagblad in june 2006, John de Mol is contemplating to buy back the 77%-share of Endemol from Telefonica, together with the Italian company Mediaset of Silvio Berlusconi.
