How Middlesbrough, Sunderland AFC and Newcastle United's owners made their millions | OneFootball

FLW takes a look at how the owners of the North East's big three clubs made their money.

Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Newcastle United are the North East's big three football clubs, whose respective owners are all vastly different to one another.

Boro have been majority owned by local entrepreneur and boyhood Middlesbrough supporter Steve Gibson since 1994, prior to which he fronted a consortium that saved the club from liquidation in 1986.

On Wearside, Sunderland have been owned by first minority, and then later majority stakeholder and chairman Kyril Louis-Dreyfus since February 2021, which, at the age of just 23 at the time, made him the youngest chairman in English football.

As for Newcastle United, the Magpies have been owned by an investment group led by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) since October 2021, who recently upped their stake in the club to 85 percent after previous co-owners Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi sold five percent of their six percent share to the PIF in July 2024.

But how did each of the club's respective owners make their fortunes? Football League World investigates.

How Boro's owner Steve Gibson made his millions

Gibson founded a haulage company named Bulkhaul Limited in 1981, which he set up by borrowing £1,000 of his father's money.

Since then, the business has become an international transporter of bulk liquids, powders and gases for chemical companies, and whose central operating base remains on Teesside.

As per Bulkhaul's website, the company operates in over 150 countries, and possesses a fleet of over 23,000 deep sea liquid isotanks, making them one of the world's largest independent operators and a market leader in global tank transportation.

Gibson is also the majority owner (75 percent stake) of the Gibson O'Neill Company Ltd alongside fellow businessman Michael O'Neill. The company's assets include Bulkhaul, Middlesbrough FC, and Rockliffe Hall Hotel, which is on the grounds of Middlesbrough's training complex.

As of 2023, the holding company had an estimated net worth of £188.5m according to CompanyCheck, rising from £148.4m in 2022.

In May 2024, the annual Sunday Times Rich List published its list of the 1,000 wealthiest people in the UK, with Gibson sitting in joint-253rd with a net worth of £640m.

How Sunderland's owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus made his fortune

Knowing what it takes to own and run a football club is something that won't have been much of a shock for the young Sunderland owner Louis-Dreyfus.

His late father and billionaire Robert Louis-Dreyfus owned French club Marseille from 1996 until his death in 2009 (Kyril also holds a 5% stake in the club). He was also a shareholder in Belgian side Standard Liege, as well as spending time in the role of CEO for one of the biggest brands in the world, Adidas.

As such, the majority of Kyril Louis-Dreyfus' wealth is inherited through his family. The family founded the Louis-Dreyfus group in 1851, which has since developed into a leading merchant firm dealing in agricultural goods, food processing, international shipping and finance.

Reported by The Sun in 2021, Kyril is the heir to an eye-watering £4billion fortune, and as of January 2024, is understood to have an estimated individual net worth of £2billion.

How Newcastle's owners made their money

Newcastle United's ownership model is split in two, with 85 percent being owned by the PIF, and 15 percent owned by the Reuben family.

Being the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, the Prime Minister and the de facto ruler of the country, Mohammed bin Salman's wealth is closely tied to this role. He is the heir apparent to the Saudi throne, which is currently occupied by his father, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

As per a report from Finty in May 2024, Mohammed bin Salman has a net worth of $18billion (approximately £14.1billion), whilst his royal family, the House of Saud, has an estimated net worth of $1.4 trillion (approximately £1.1 trillion).

Oil has been the predominant source of the family's wealth, whilst they also have investments in a range of industries, such as real estate, technology, and finance.

As per Forbes, the Reuben brothers, Simon and David, built their fortune together in real estate and technology, and both have individual net worth's of $9.5billion (approximately £7.4billion).

The Indian-born brothers sold 49 percent of their data centre business, GlobalSwitch, to a Chinese consortium of investors for nearly $3billion in 2016.

They would then sell a further 25 percent of the business in 2018 to an Asian consortium of institutional and private investors for $2.7billion.

As reported by Insider Media in July 2024, the siblings have a combined fortune of £24.97billion, and they were also named as the richest people in the North East in The Sunday Times Rich List for 2024.