Oliver Cookson

Oliver Cookson
Photo of Oliver Cookson doing a presentation at a rare public appearance in 2014
Born (1979-02-17) 17 February 1979
Manchester, England
Occupation Entrepreneur
Known for Owner & Founder of GoNutriton®, Founder of Myprotein®.
Net worth Increase £110million (as of 2015)

Oliver Cookson (born 17 February 1979) is a UK entrepreneur who established the sports nutrition business Myprotein. In 2011 Cookson sold Myprotein for a reported £58 million which was a combination of cash and to become a major shareholder in The Hut Group . He has since established a new business known as Monocore which has currently launched two new brands, GoNutrition and Saints & Slimmers.[1][2][3][4][5]

Early life

Cookson was born in Withington hospital in 1979. He then grew up in inner-city Manchester. His Mother was a secretary and his Father was an independent second-hand car dealer. Cookson’s parents separated when he was nine and he remained living with his mother. Cookson worked before and after school on a paper round and on the weekends in a take-away.[6] Cookson left school at the age of sixteen with one GCSE to take up a junior IT position under a Apprenticeship scheme for a company called Pantek.[1][4] He progressed to become a contract website developer for a range of different blue-chip organisations around the UK.[1][4]

Myprotein

In 2004 Cookson established the business Myprotein using an overdraft of £500. He used his website development abilities combined with his interest in fitness and sports nutrition to form the Myprotein business.[1][2][3][4] Myprotein grew to have a turnover of over £25m per annum, over £5m EBITDA, employing 100 staff, and supplying over 350 product lines across the UK and Europe.[4][7][8] On 1 June 2011, Cookson sold Myprotein to The Hut Group for a reported £58 million in a cash and shares deal which still sees Cookson's interests maintain a major shareholding in The Hut Group. Cookson remained on the board of directors of The Hut Group until October 2012 when he resigned from the board.

A fund-raise in July 2015 values The Hut Group in the region of £900m.[9] The Trust which Cookson is a beneficiary, still holds a major stake in The Hut Group as of July 2015.

Monocore

On 1 November 2011, Cookson established the business Monocore Ltd. One of the first concepts developed by the Monocore business is the weight management initiative known as Saints & Slimmers as well as a sports nutrition brand known as GoNutrition.[1][2][3][4][5]

Litigation with The Hut Group

Oliver Cookson was involved in a long running case of litigation with The Hut Group over the sale of Myprotein in 2011. Cookson was sued for £15 million with The Hut Group claiming overestimation affected the valuation of the company when they bought it. Cookson counter sued for £12.7 million claiming a breach of warranty and fraudulent mis-representation. The matter went to the High Court in London in October 2014 and after a month-long trial judgement was given by William Blair (judge) in November 2014 giving Oliver Cookson an overall net result win of £6.5m in damages.[10][11]

At the costs hearing in December 2014, the judge awarded a payment of just under £7.5 million to be made by The Hut Group to Cookson and the Trust in respect of all of the claims and counterclaims in the action and one third of the costs incurred by Mr Cookson and the Trust.[12]

Oliver Cookson and the Trust have been successful in gaining permission to appeal the courts decision to award The Hut Groups damages, with the appeal to be heard in February 2016.[13]

TV piracy

In 2001, when Cookson was aged 22 he was convicted of incitement under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 by Manchester Crown Court after pleading guilty. Cookson was fined £600 and ordered to complete 200 hours community after undercover investigators exposed the ploy and found Cookson masterminded a cable TV dodge which allowed viewers to see pay-per-view channels for free.[14]

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Do I want to be the next Apple?" The Sunday Times, by Kiki Loizou, 17 February 2013, subscription required
  2. 1 2 3 "MyProtein founder finds receipt for new ventures", Insider Media Limited, 12 March 2013
  3. 1 2 3 "Fear is a Liar" Insider Media Limited, 15 October 2013
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Business Big Shot", The Times, by Laura Pitel, 2 June 2011, subscription required
  5. 1 2 "MyProtein founder launches latest venture", Manchester Evening News, by Shelina Begum, 28 August 2013
  6. ↑ Go Nutrition, 25 March 2013
  7. ↑ "Awesome Entrepreneurs", Never Give Up, by Larry Lewis, 20 May 2013
  8. ↑ "From lock-up to warehouse in four years", Real Business, 7 March 2008
  9. ↑ http://news.sky.com/story/1512738/hut-group-to-nudge-1bn-with-new-fundraising
  10. ↑ “The judgment by The Hon Mr Justice Blair - The Hut Group Ltd v Cookson”, England and Wales High Court (Queen's Bench Division) Decisions, 20th November 2014.
  11. ↑ “Business Desk article - 21st November 2014.
  12. ↑ “Costs awarded in The Hut Group vs Oliver Cookson & Barclays Private Bank & Trust Ltd - Press Release by DWF.
  13. ↑ http://www.dwf.co.uk/news-events/dwf-press/2015/04/permission-to-appeal-granted-in-high-court-case-between-the-hut-group-ltd-and-oliver-cookson-and-others/
  14. ↑ BBC News - Computer expert fined over TV piracy, 17 July 2001

External links

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