Richard Desmond

For the ice hockey player, see Richard Desmond (ice hockey).
Richard Desmond

Richard Desmond (left) with George Osborne in 2010
Born Richard Clive Desmond
8 December 1951[1]
Hampstead, London, England
Residence Golders Green, London, England
Nationality British
Occupation Publisher, businessman
Years active since 1972
Net worth Increase £1.2 billion[2]
Television Television X (1995–present)
Red Hot TV (2000–present)
Channel 5 (2010–2014)
Title Owner of Northern & Shell
Term since 1974
Spouse(s) Joy Canfield
Janet Robertson (m. 1983–2010) (divorced)
Website
northernandshell.co.uk

Richard Clive Desmond (born 8 December 1951) is an English publisher and businessman. He is the owner of Express Newspapers and founder of Northern & Shell, which publishes various celebrity magazines, such as OK! and New!, and British national newspapers Daily Star and Daily Express. Northern & Shell also owns Portland TV[3] which, in turn, owns the adult TV channels Television X, Red Hot TV, and others.

In 2010, Desmond was ranked the equal-57th richest man in Britain according to The Sunday Times Rich List,[4] with a net worth of £950 million. He was once again listed on the 2011 Sunday Times Rich List, with his fortune still at £950 million. In 2014, he was ranked 78th and worth £1.2 billion.[2]

Early life

Desmond was born in Hampstead, London,[5] into a Jewish family, the youngest of three children.[6][7] His father, Cyril, was at one time managing director of cinema advertising company Pearl & Dean. An ear infection caused the sudden loss of Cyril's hearing and, according to Richard, he used to take him along, when he was no more than three years old, to act as "his ears" in business meetings, where he ostensibly acquired his "first taste of business dealings".[8] After Cyril lost a significant amount of family money to gambling, his parents divorced[9] and 11-year-old Desmond moved with his mother, Millie, into a flat above a garage; he has described his impoverished early adolescence as a time when he was "very fat and very lonely".[9]

Business career

Desmond left school at 15 and started working in the classified advertisements section of the Thomson Group, while playing the drums at night. After moving to another company, and on the basis of his music interests, he opened a record shop. In the mid-1970s, Desmond combined his interest in music and advertising to found, with Ray Hammond, International Musician and Recording World monthly magazine for musicians, eventually driving out of business long-established publications such as Beat Instrumental. He was an early pioneer of the international licensing of magazines: International Musician soon had editions in the US, Australia, Japan, Germany as well as the UK.[10] This was followed by the publication of Home Organist, whose editor contributed the old-school motto Forti Nihil Difficile ("Nothing is difficult for the strong" – it was Disraeli's motto), still used by the Northern & Shell publishing group. Desmond eventually bought out Hammond, who moved on to writing books as a futurologist. Desmond's interest in the adult entertainment business was growing as he took early advantage of the available profit from fixed-rate phone lines to ostensibly attractive women.

In 1983, Northern & Shell obtained the licence to publish Penthouse in the United Kingdom. The company soon moved on to publishing a range of adult titles, including Asian Babes, alongside about 40 other specialist publications, on subjects such as green issues, bicycles, fitness, stamps, cars and cooking. It was the first company to move to the revamped Docklands and the Princess Royal opened the offices, which were cleaned temporarily of all evidence of Penthouse. When the company moved to the Northern & Shell Tower, the Duke of Edinburgh presided over the ceremonies.

In November 2000, Northern & Shell acquired Express Newspapers from United News & Media for £125 million,[11] enlarging the group to include the Daily and Sunday Express titles, the Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday (which Desmond started), and the Irish Daily Star (owned jointly with the Irish Independent News & Media group). The Daily and Sunday Express each sell around 700,000 copies per issue.[12] The Daily Star was the only national paper to put on sales year on year with an 18% increase (September 2008 – September 2009) and circulation figures of around 850,000,[13] largely due to aggressive pricing policies which significantly undercut competitors such as The Sun.

Northern & Shell also publishes a wide range of magazines including the celebrity weekly OK!, started as a monthly in 1993, going weekly in March 1996, which is the largest weekly magazine in the world, with 23 separate editions from the US to Australia to Azerbaijan and with a readership in excess of 31 million.

After buying Express Newspapers, Desmond became embroiled in a feud with Viscount Rothermere, publisher of the Daily Mail, the rival to the Daily Express, largely derived from stories relating to Rothermere's private life.

In February 2004, in a move that some newspapers interpreted[14] as an attempt to clear and bolster his image[15][16] in view of his bid for the Daily Telegraph, Desmond sold the adult magazine business to Remnant Media for approximately £10 million.[17]

In April 2004, the Daily Express reverted to supporting the Conservatives, after a period backing Labour. On the same day, Desmond accused The Daily Telegraph, then considering accepting a takeover by the German Axel Springer group, of giving in to Nazis.[18] Desmond reportedly harangued The Daily Telegraph's chief executive and associates in faux German at a business meeting and imitated Adolf Hitler.[19]

In 2005, The Guardian reported that Desmond became unwittingly caught up in a pornographic telephone and Internet scam which allegedly led to him receiving death threats from the New York Gambino mafia family, according to documents released during a court case.[20] Desmond has denied the whole episode.

In 2008, Northern & Shell reported a turnover of £483.9 million.[21] Since the time of its inception, the small, privately owned publishing venture has become one of Britain's leading independent publishing businesses, with annual revenues close to £500 million and more than 2,000 people employed. The group has offices in London, Broughton, Glasgow, and Dublin, and in New York and Los Angeles. They also have offices in Sydney, Australia, and Hamburg, Germany, for their partnerships in these countries.

On 23 July 2010, Desmond bought the UK terrestrial-television channel Channel 5, which was losing money, from the German group RTL, for £103.5million.[22][23][24] The new owner immediately proceeded to cut costs, starting with the dismissal of seven of Channel 5's nine directors, beginning a drive to eliminate "£20m of yearly expenses". The stated plan included the dismissal of up to 80 of the network's 300 employees.[25] He sold Channel 5 to Viacom for a reported £450m in May 2014.[26]

Political activity

In December 2014, during the run up the 2015 UK General Election, Desmond was reported to have agreed to donate £300,000 to the UK Independence Party.[27] There was speculation at the time that a further donation could follow,[27] and in April 2015 it was announced that he had given an additional £1,000,000 to the party.[28]

Charity work

In 2003, Desmond and Roger Daltrey formed the RD Crusaders, a rock group featuring Desmond on drums, to raise money for charitable causes. Since its inception, the group has raised around £14 million via a series of fundraising concerts for charities including Marie Curie, The Teenage Cancer Trust, Norwood Child Care and the Evelina Children's Hospital. As well as Daltrey and Desmond, the line-up occasionally includes Robert Plant, Lulu, Steve Harley, guitarists Russ Ballard (of Argent) and Rick Wills (of Foreigner and Bad Company), keyboardist Steve Smith and organist Zoot Money.

Desmond, an active supporter of children's charities, became president of the Norwood_(charity) in 2006. He also ensured the attachment of his name to a children's centre at Moorfields Eye Hospital, by contributing £2.5m to the £15m project.[29] The centre is the world's largest specialist paediatric eye clinic, a centre treating more than 25,000 children a year.[30] The centre was officially inaugurated in 2007 by Queen Elizabeth II.

Libel case

Litigation began at the High Court on 6 July 2009 over claims in journalist Tom Bower's joint biography of Conrad Black and Barbara Amiel, Conrad and Lady Black: Dancing on the Edge, that Desmond had made a "humiliating climbdown" over an Express story at the end of 2002 on the state of Lord Black's finances, which it was alleged Desmond had ordered to be written.

This claim of a weakening of Desmond's "super-tough" reputation as a businessman was viewed as defamation by Desmond. Bower denied libel on the grounds of the story being "substantially true".[31] The following day, the presiding judge The Hon. Mr Justice Eady, discharged the jury as "fundamental" evidence and legal submissions had emerged.[32] The new jury later found in favour of Bower.[33]

A biography of Desmond, Rough Trader, was written by Bower and printed in 2006, but still awaits publication.[34][35]

Personal life

Desmond and Janet Robertson were married for 27 years;[36] the couple has a son, Robert.[19] In October 2010,[37] Janet filed for divorce on the grounds of his "unreasonable behaviour" and was granted a decree nisi from the court.[38]

Desmond then married Joy Canfield.[39] The couple had their first child, daughter Angel Millie, in early 2011.

References

  1. ↑ "Researcha". Web.researcha.com. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Sunday Times Rich List". Sunday Times (page 24). 18 May 2014.
  3. ↑ About us Portland TV
  4. ↑ "Richard Desmond". The Times (London). 26 April 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ Hosking, Patrick; Wighton, David (26 July 2009). "PROFILE Richard Desmond". The Times (London).
  7. ↑ "Richard Desmond in new TV bid". BBC. 2010. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  8. ↑ "Richard Desmond: 'I've got so much money it's ridiculous'" The Independent, 21 June 2010
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Richard Desmond: Never afraid to Express himself" The Guardian, 15 August 2010
  10. ↑ Snoddy, Raymond (25 October 2004). "Richard Desmond: The demon proprietor of Fleet Street". The Independent. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  11. ↑ Jorn Madslien (12 February 2006). "Profile: Richard Desmond". BBC.
  12. ↑ "ABC Circulation Figures". Audit Bureau of Circulations. Retrieved 4 February 2009. (December 2008)
  13. ↑ National newspaper circulations Press Gazette, 16 October 2009
  14. ↑ "Desmond breaks links with porn as he fights for 'Telegraph'" The Independent, 2 March 2004
  15. ↑ "Profile: Richard Desmond" BBC, 12 February 2004
  16. ↑ "Blackout" The Sunday Times, 23 November 2003
  17. ↑ "The rebel entrepreneur who went too far" The Independent, 24 April 2004
  18. ↑ Tryhorn, Chris (22 April 2004). "Desmond taunts Telegraph in 'Nazi' tirade". Media Guardian (London: Guardian). Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Chris Blackhurst "The MT Interview: Richard Desmond", Management Today, 1 December 2010
  20. ↑ Teather, David; Dan Milmo (17 February 2005). "Mafia told Desmond: we'll kill you over porn deal". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 26 March 2009.
  21. ↑ Financial Results 2008 Northern & Shell announcement
  22. ↑ "RTL Group sells UK broadcaster Five" (Press release). RTL Group. 23 July 2010. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
  23. ↑ Robinson, James (23 July 2010). "Richard Desmond promises Channel Five 'investment, drive and leadership'". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 24 July 2010.
  24. ↑ "UK: Media tycoon Desmond seals deal for Five". The Spy Report (Media Spy). 24 July 2010. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
  25. ↑ "Bloodbath on Five as Richard Desmond clears out seven directors" The Guardian, 12 August 2010
  26. ↑ Sweney, Mark (1 May 2014). "Viacom confirms purchase of Channel 5 from Richard Desmond for £450m". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Kleinman, Mark (12 December 2014). "Express Owner Desmond Hands £300k To UKIP". Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  28. ↑ "Express Owner Desmond Hands £1,000,000 To UKIP totaling in £1.3m in Donations". Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  29. ↑ Camden New Journal, 8 February 2007
  30. ↑ "The Richard Desmond Children's Eye Centre", Moorfields Eye Hospital announcement, 25 February 2009
  31. ↑ James Robinson "Tom Bower book damaged Richard Desmond's 'super-tough' reputation, court hears", The Guardian, 7 July 2009
  32. ↑ Alex Spence "Jury discharged in Richard Desmond libel case", The Times, 7 July 2009
  33. ↑ Patrick Foster "Richard Desmond loses libel case with Tom Bower over Conrad Black claims", The Times, 24 July 2009
  34. ↑ Tom Bower (26 July 2009). "My week: Tom Bower". London: The Observer. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  35. ↑ Greenslade, Roy (13 April 2015). "Tom Bower to speak to NUJ after being barred from Express offices". http://www.theguardian.com''. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  36. ↑ Ben Summerskill (2 September 2002). "Observer profile: Richard Desmond | Media | The Observer". London: Guardian. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
  37. ↑ Greenslade, Roy (6 October 2010). "No headlines for Desmond divorce". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 16 December 2010.
  38. ↑ Colley, Jan (6 October 2010). "Desmond and wife divorce". The Independent (London). Retrieved 16 December 2010.
  39. ↑ "Just warming up... pre-Wimbledon party gets tournament off to a glamorous start" , Evening Standard, 20 June 2013

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