Tycoon Ashley wins £15m ‘pub deal’ legal case
TYCOON Mike Ashley yesterday won his legal battle with a finance expert over a £15million deal allegedly made in a pub.
A judge ruled the billionaire Sports Direct boss will not have to hand over the sum to investment banker Jeffrey Blue.
Mr Blue claimed Mr Ashley, 52, promised to pay him £15million if he used his expertise to double the Sports Direct share price.
The banker said under the terms of the deal he had to get the firm’s share price up to £8-per-share within three years – the feat was then achieved in just 12 months.
Mr Ashley dismissed his claim as “nonsense”, saying anything he may have said was clearly just “banter” after a night of “power drinking” in the Horse and Groom pub in Fitzrovia, central London, in 2013.
Mr Blue, who worked as an adviser for Mr Ashley, only ever received a one-off £1million bonus.
Ruling in Mr Ashley’s favour, Mr Justice Leggatt said: “No reasonable person present in the Horse and Groom on January 24, 2013, would have thought that the offer to pay Mr Blue £15million was serious and was intended to create a contract, and no one who was actually present did in fact think so at the time. They all thought it was a joke.
“The fact that Mr Blue has since convinced himself that the offer was a serious one, and that a legally binding agreement was made, shows only that the human capacity for wishful thinking knows few bounds.”
Newcastle United owner Mr Ashley, who was not in court for yesterday’s judgment, said afterwards: “The only reason the Sports Direct share price exceeded £8 is because of the sterling efforts of all the people.”
The judge said Mr Blue would have to pick up Mr Ashley’s legal bills, which lawyers said had run to about £1.5million.