David Sullivan (publisher)

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David Sullivan (publisher) : biography

05 February 1949 –

David Sullivan (born on 5 February 1949) is a businessman, philanthropist and pornographer. He graduated in Economics from Queen Mary College, University of London. From 1986 to 2007, he owned the Daily Sport and Sunday Sport which he sold for £40 million. In 2013, Sullivan was named by The Sunday Times as Britain’s 224th richest man, with assets valued at £400 million. He is the Joint-Chairman and largest single shareholder of Premier League football team West Ham United. He was previously Joint-Chairman of Birmingham City. Sullivan has made significant charitable donations in recent years.

Early life

Born in Cardiff, the son of an RAF serviceman, Sullivan grew up living in a Penarth council house. When Sullivan was 10 years old his father was posted to Aden, Yemen where they lived for a year before moving to England to live in Hornchurch. He attended the Abbs Cross school and gained ten O Levels. After his family moved to Hertfordshire he attended Watford Boys Grammar School obtaining three A levels. He read Economics at Queen Mary College, narrowly missing a first.

Notes

Sources

  • Simon Sheridan Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema 2011 (fourth edition) (Titan books)
  • Simon Sheridan Come Play with Me: The Life and Films of Mary Millington 1999 (FAB Press, Guildford)
  • Mark Killick The Sultan of Sleaze 1994 (Penguin UK)

Football

Birmingham City

Despite being a lifelong West Ham United fan, in 1993 Sullivan bought into Birmingham City, with David Gold and Ralph Gold. The landmark deal saw the new owners secure an 80% stake of the Midlands outfit.

In 2007 Sullivan expressed his first desire to sell his share in Birmingham City and openly admitted three reasons for a possible departure. “One, the geographical distance. I’ve said for years the journey to Birmingham is killing me. Two, I think deep down the public have had enough of us. They think we should have mortgaged our houses to buy more players to compete with Chelsea and Arsenal. The honeymoon is long over and we’re at the divorce stage now, unfortunately. And I also feel we’ve had no support from Birmingham Council."

After 16 years at the club, Birmingham managing director Karren Brady and Chairman David Sullivan agreed to step down from their posts on completion of Carson Yeung’s takeover in Autumn 2009.

Then manager Alex McLeish was quick to praise the Sullivan-Gold duo in the press for providing the club with financial stability, admitting he had a huge amount of respect for them and what they had achieved.

West Ham United

On Sullivan’s departure from Birmingham he expressed his intentions to remain in football. Less than one year on in January 2010 he and David Gold acquired a 50% share in West Ham United giving them operational and commercial control and valuing the Premier League club at £105million. Karren Brady, who had also played a significant role in turning around City’s fortunes, joined the Hammers as vice-chairman.

On the day the takeover was confirmed, an emotional Sullivan said: “It’s going to take time to sink in. We’ve been wanting to sit here for 20 years and together we owned 27 per cent of the club 22 years ago and it’s taken us 22 years to get to where want to be. Both me and David are supporters, I went to university here and I lived in Hornchurch. David lived 50 yards from the ground for 20 years of his life and played for West Ham’s youth team. We just want to be here where we’ve always wanted to be. There is no other club we would want to be at so for us we have come home and that’s what it’s all about."

Within five months the Sullivan and Gold duo pledged a further commitment to the club and on 25 May 2010 they increased their stake to 60% (Sullivan with 30%). Vice-chairman Karren Brady later explained the move gave the football club "the much-needed stability."

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In September 2012 Sullivan revealed that together with Gold they were personally funding the club’s transfer business because the ‘cupboard was left bare’ by its former Icelandic owners. He told the Daily Mail that ‘as a business venture, buying West Ham made no sense at all.’ He said, ‘Not the deal we did. The club was £120million in debt with very few assets. It was a mess. But David [Gold] and I are not in it for the money. We want to put the best possible team on the pitch for the supporters of West Ham because we are supporters too.’