Richard Desmond

Richard Clive Desmond is a British publisher, businessman and former pornographer. He is the founder of Northern & Shell, which primarily operates in the businesses of property development, The Health Lottery and start-up ventures, but previously published a variety of pornographic titles and of celebrity magazines ; and owned Britain's Channel 5 and the pornographic television network, Portland, which it sold in April 2016 for less than £1m. Desmond is also a former owner of Express Newspapers, which was sold to Reach plc for £200m, of which £74m was invested in the Express newspapers pension scheme until 2027. According to the 2020 Sunday Times Rich List, Desmond was the 70th richest person in the United Kingdom with a £2 billion fortune. In 2020, Desmond was involved in controversy after pressuring the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Robert Jenrick to overrule the Planning Inspectorate and approve a housing development for Desmond's company. The timing of the decision saved the company £40 million but was later overturned.