A 70-year-old Irishman who set up a taxi business as a sideline to earn some extra cash is the highest new entry on Ireland’s latest rich list.
Accountant John Griffin made his fortune in London after he decided to make some money on the side with a taxi.
The Sunday Independent’s new rich list has him top of the new entries with a fortune worth almost $500million thanks to the success of his Addison Lee company.
He built it from scratch into Britain’s biggest taxi, car hire and fleet management group before selling it to private equity group Carlyle for almost half a billion dollars last April.
Griffin is one of 27 new entries on the Sunday Independent Rich list 2014, down on the 38 new entries last year and the record haul of 44 in 2012.
There are no new women featured on the list.
Fellow expat Shane Smith, who once served pints in Dublin’s famous Baggot Inn music venue and watering hole, is now worth almost one and half billion dollars.
The Sunday Independent reports that Smith is the brains behind fast-growing digital group Vice Media, partly owned by Rupert Murdoch.
The report adds that Mayo farm machinery tycoons Padraig and Martin McHale have seen their engineering company expand.
The Hughes brothers from Mayo are also new entrants this year thanks to the success of their workwear company.
 
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/when-the-dust-settles-whos-still-standing-30069832.html

A 70-year-old Irishman who set up a taxi business as a sideline to earn some extra cash is the highest new entry on Ireland’s latest rich list.

Accountant John Griffin made his fortune in London after he decided to make some money on the side with a taxi.

The Sunday Independent’s new rich list has him top of the new entries with a fortune worth almost $500million thanks to the success of his Addison Lee company.

He built it from scratch into Britain’s biggest taxi, car hire and fleet management group before selling it to private equity group Carlyle for almost half a billion dollars last April.

Griffin is one of 27 new entries on the Sunday Independent Rich list 2014, down on the 38 new entries last year and the record haul of 44 in 2012.

There are no new women featured on the list.

Fellow expat Shane Smith, who once served pints in Dublin’s famous Baggot Inn music venue and watering hole, is now worth almost one and half billion dollars.

The Sunday Independent reports that Smith is the brains behind fast-growing digital group Vice Media, partly owned by Rupert Murdoch.

The report adds that Mayo farm machinery tycoons Padraig and Martin McHale have seen their engineering company expand.

The Hughes brothers from Mayo are also new entrants this year thanks to the success of their workwear company.