West Ham United now have four owners with Vanessa Gold, Daniel Kretinsky, David Sullivan and Albert ‘Tripp’ Smith. The quartet each holds a varying stake in the London Stadium club.
Gold became the latest owner of West Ham in August 2023 when she took on the shares of the east London team her father, David Gold, previously held. She took on the family’s stake in West Ham following the passing of the British businessman during January 2023 aged 86.
Sullivan is now the longest-serving owner among West Ham’s current structure after buying into the club with Gold in 2010. The pair rescued the London Stadium natives when their old owners, the Icelandic group CB Holdings, endured financial turmoil and offloaded its shares.
When did Gold, Sullivan, Kretinsky and Smith become the owners of West Ham?
CB Holdings bought West Ham in June 2009 when the bailed-out Straumur-Burdaras bank ended Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson’s three-year custodianship. Yet the entity of the Icelandic bank only owned the Hammers exclusively to January 2010 when Gold and Sullivan joined.
Gold and Sullivan secured an initial 50% stake in West Ham after they sold Birmingham City. It valued the Irons at £105m, while Gold and Sullivan later increased their ownership to 60% in May 2010. They each took a further 5% of CB Holding’s remaining stake for a total of £8m.
Sullivan continued to increase his shareholding and reached 55.6% in July 2013 after buying a further 25% of CB Holding’s stake. It came amid a £25.5m restructuring of the club’s debt and left CB Holding with 10%. But that 10% would change over to Smith in September 2017.
Smith bought the last of CB Holding’s shares and also took Daniel Svanstrom’s spot on West Ham’s board. Although he, Gold and Sullivan each agreed to reduce their shares in the Irons in November 2021 when Kretinsky bought a 27% stake in a deal worth around £180m – £200m.
Kretinsky became the second-largest shareholder among West Ham’s owners – only behind Sullivan’s remaining 38.8%. While Gold reduced his stake – now controlled by Vanessa Gold – from 30.6% to 25.1%. Smith holds an 8% stake and further investors control the other 1%.
What have West Ham won with their current owners?
Under David Moyes, the Hammers added the first piece of silverware to West Ham’s trophy cabinet with Gold, Sullivan, Smith and Kretinsky as the club’s owners in 2022/23. The coach guided the London Stadium club to glory on the continent in the Europa Conference League.
It also marked West Ham’s first major trophy since the east London natives won the FA Cup back in 1980. The trophy also marked the club’s first European honour since the claret-and-blue side won the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1999. But domestic titles still elude the Hammers.
What other sports franchises do West Ham owners own?
Vanessa Gold does not own shares in any sporting franchise other than her family’s stake in West Ham United. David Sullivan also does not own any other sporting outfit but he helped Isthmian League team Hornchurch financially during the suspension of fixtures to Covid-19.
Albert Smith, too, has no financial interests in sport other than being among the owners of West Ham. But Kretinsky also co-owns Czech Republic giants Sparta Prague after investing in the club in 2004. He reached a 40% stake in March 2012 as their second-largest owner.
How much is Sullivan worth? What is Kretinsky’s net worth?
According to The Sunday Times Rich List 2023, David Sullivan’s family possess a net worth of £1.1bn. It makes them the 159th richest group in the UK. While the Daily Mail reported that David Gold had a net fortune of £130m at the time of his passing that went to Vanessa Gold.
As for Daniel Kretinsky, Forbes cites his net worth at $9.2bn (£7.3bn) as of September 2023. It places him as the world’s 228th richest person via central Europe’s biggest energy group, Energeticky, plus shares in French newspaper Le Monde and German retail giant Metro AG.
West Ham also supports the net worth of their owners, Sullivan, Gold, Kretinsky and Smith. Forbes values West Ham at $1.08bn (£865m) as of September 2023, making them the 15th most valuable football team in the world. The Irons are seventh among Premier League sides.
