‘communified’ country. “The old flames of
nationalism… have now been quenched by
prosperity and partnership in Europe, so
Northern Ireland is an anomaly. Politically
it will want to be different but I see the two
economies becoming ever closer together,”
he told Rose.
Backing up his dream and rhetoric,
O’Reilly has been a generous benefactor
in both communities, always in support of
his ideals of education and opportunity.
His philanthropic endeavours have seen
him personally fund a number of projects
at educational institutions including trinity
College Dublin, University College Dublin and
libraries at Dublin City University and Queen’s
University in Belfast. His O’Reilly Foundation
supports a programme of scholarships to
provide world-class educational opportunities
for young Irish scholars, both north and south.
He was also instrumental in establishing the
non-denominational Ireland Fund dedicated
to peace, culture and charity for all of Ireland,
for which he was knighted in 2001. To date,
the fund has administered almost $300m to
many good causes.
The O’Reilly era
No one who has met Sir Anthony would deny
that he exudes charm, but charm alone will
not build million pound businesses into billion
pound businesses. In an article written for
the New York Times in May 1988, colleagues
at HJ Heinz praised O’Reilly’s management,
style and attributed senior staff loyalty and
performance largely to him. One senior vice
president commented, “Tony sets tough
goals, but they are consistent, unambiguous
and fair.” David Sculley, then President of
Heinz USA, was quoted as saying, “Tony
is very competitive, and his scorecard is
the bottom line. But he is also motivated by
friendship. He’ll go that extra mile for people,
so we’ll go that extra mile for him.”
Looking back, Sir Anthony himself has
observed, “In all of the companies I have
run, I have been able to assess the quality of
management over a term of years, in terms
of effort, creativity, innovation, perseverance
and collegiality.” [press office] Perhaps the
most telling aspect of this assessment is
the idea of the longer term perspective,
which seems to underlie his approach to
business development overall. Combine that
willingness to take the long term view with a
willingness to make mistakes – he once said
“a company has got to have room to lose
money to make money” – and you have the
modus operandi of someone who creates
huge shareholder value when it works, and
is the subject of much public criticism when
things go wrong.
The last twelve months seem to be
one of the periods when things are going
wrong. The global economic slump has
seen the value of O’Reilly’s investments
in several mining and energy companies
more than halved, and is responsible,
he suggests, for some of the foreign
exchange and cash flow problems
that led to the demise of his beloved
Waterford Wedgwood, which was put into
administration in January of this year.
No doubt his biggest headache of the
year so far has been brought on by an ongoing
dispute with a critical shareholder in
his INM news media group. Denis O’Brien,
another Irish media industry tycoon, has
been airing concerns publicly since he
first began to acquire shares in 2006.
Claiming the composition of the board,
which includes three of O’Reilly’s children
and several trusted friends, raises serious
corporate governance concerns, O’Brien
has been steadily acquiring a larger stake,
and demanding sweeping changes.
Backing up his claims, recession induced
falls in both readership and advertising
revenues have exposed debt worries and
underperforming assets.
Matters came to a head with the news
that INM had to redeem a `200m bond in
May, triggering a drop in the price of INM
shares of over 80 percent. With shareholdings
in excess of 25 percent each, both men
suffered major personal losses and at last
entered discussions to resolve the situation.
The solution, announced on 13 March
was that Chief Executive, Sir Anthony O’Reilly
would retire on his 73rd birthday in May,
after 36 years with INM. The INM share price
doubled on the Dublin Stock Exchange at
the news, signalling relief in the markets
that the board can finally turn its attention to
restructuring the business and sorting out its
debt issues.
It is doubtful that a man with O’Reilly’s
passion and energy will retire fully from public
life, but this is certainly the end of an era. INM
Chairman Brian Hillery summed up the feeling
of many people in Ireland when he said, “Tony
has been a significant business leader for
more than 45 years and has been a key figure
in the making of modern Ireland.”
INM in Numbers
200 print titles under the INM umbrella.
100+ commercial websites.
9,600 employees in 2007.
1986: The year the Independent
launched.
2003: The year the independent switched
from broadsheet to tabloid format.
215,504: The average circulation for the
newspaper.
Sir Anthony O’Reilly CV
Born: Dublin, 1936.
Education: Belvedere College, University
College Dublin, University of Bradford.
Spouse: Chryss Goulandris.
Children: 3.
Career: 1966: Irish Sugar Company,
Managing Director, 1969: HJ Heinz, MD,
1987: HJ Heinz, Chairman, 1995-2009:
Waterford Wedgwood, Chairman, 1973-
2009: INM, CEO.
23
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