The dastardly Mr Deedes
Ryanair’s quarrelsome chief Michael O’Leary, who’s been hinting at retirement, remains busy in the Irish property market. He’s paid £2.2m for a period house in Dublin, his fourth such purchase in recent years. His primary residence remains Gigginstown House, about 60 miles from Dublin, which he bought in 2003 after hearing he could obtain a substantial tax break if it was open to the public for 60 days a year. When an Irish journalist once arrived demanding a tour, O’Charmer, 57, advised the scribbler to ‘**** off’.
Comcast’s £30bn acquisition of Sky marks another bumper payday for teensy mergers and acquisitions specialists Robey Warshaw which trousers £38m from the deal. The discreet Mayfair-based advisory business employs barely a dozen staff yet comfortably outperforms Goldman Sachs in the lucrative M&A market. Honey-voiced founder Sir Simon Robey, 58, who paid himself £37m last year, originally yearned to be an opera singer.
August French banking patriarch David de Rothschild says prior to the 2008 crash he was approached by hulking Lehman Brothers boss Dick Fuld about a merger. The pair discussed the deal over a rare bottle of Chateau Lafite before Baron de Rothschild, 75, politely declined the offer. He tells the Financial Times: ‘We kissed goodbye and that was it.’ Very wise. David’s man-kissing is bound to have put Wall Street conks out of joint.
Virgin tycoon Sir Richard Branson recommends regular tea breaks around the office as a way of sparking ideas in colleagues. He says: ‘I’m a big believer in heading over to the kettle and starting a conversation.’ Motormouth Beardie, 68, reckons he slurps his way through 20 cuppas a day.
Last week’s City-based Radio 4 play The RemCo mentions Dastardly describing a charismatic chief executive named Michael Melman as an ‘Eddie Redmayne look-a-like City charmer’. Might writer Jonathan Maitland have based the fictional Melman on BT lounge lizard Gavin Patterson, 50, whose flamboyant style will be much missed when he departs? Gav’s being replaced by Worldpay’s 51-year-old boss Philip Jansen, a far drier creature whom my tech source describes as ‘a tad highly strung’.