Concert promoters among Britain’s 1,000 richest

Concert promoters Simon Moran, Denis Desmond and Caroline Downey feature prominently in the 2016 edition of The Sunday Times Rich List, which lists the 1,000 wealthiest people in the United Kingdom.

Moran, the managing director of SJM Concerts and a director of venue owner-operator Academy Music Group, is a new entry at №799 with a fortune of £125 million. Briton Moran also owns a management company and rugby league Warrington Wolves and has a 19 per cent stake worth £10m in T in the Park promoter DF Concerts.

According to the Times, SJM (for ‘Simon James Moran’) – which promotes V Festival and around 2,000 concerts a year – made £14.6m profit in 2014.

Desmond (pictured) and Downey, the Irish co-owners of MCD Productions, have a combined wealth of £155m.

Desmond, who co-founded MCD with Eamonn McCann in 1980, formed the LN-Gaiety Holdings Ltd joint venture with Live Nation in 2004 and was last year appointed to head up the promotion conglomerate’s operations in the UK and Republic of Ireland following the departure of John Probyn.

Ticketmaster international CEO Roger Ames sits just ahead of Moran, with a fortune of £130m, while PJ Harvey and former U2 manager Paul McGuinness is worth £109m.

Warner Music owner Len Blavatnik, worth an eye-watering £11.6 billion, is the wealthiest music industry figure – and third-richest man in Britain overall – trailed in a distant second by Zomba Group founder Clive Calder (£1.7bn). Third is theatre producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh (£1.15bn), with Sir Paul McCartney and wife Nancy Shevell (£760m) fourth, Lord Lloyd-Webber fifth (£715) and U2 (£500m) sixth.

Adele is the highest-ranking British female, and Britain’s richest female ever, with a fortune of £85 million – up £35 million on 2015.

Read More Like This

News|02 Nov 2023

Music among bombs: How festivals survived in Ukraine

Alona Dmukhovska from Music Export Ukraine discusses how festivals and events in war-torn Ukraine have adapted to the circumstances

News|08 Feb 2024

Banks, Fogel, The O2 among Pollstar Awards winners

The international live music business came out in force for the 35th Pollstar Awards at the Wiltern in Los Angeles

News|08 Dec 2023

AEG Presents unveils new outdoor concert series

The promoter has also announced a pair of co-headliners for the Sunday of All Points East in London

News|20 Feb 2024

ABBA Voyage to hold first ‘calmer concert’

Provisions will be made so that people with sensory processing needs can enjoy the smash-hit virtual concert residency

News|23 Nov 2023

Creamfields unveils 30,000-cap indoor main stage

Organisers of the UK electronic music festival say APEX will be the "largest indoor festival superstructure in the world"