Gallagher PREM owners ranked by net worth – one club now has £33BILLION backing

Thursday, 13 August 2026 at 14:30

bySteven Smith

The financial landscape of the Gallagher PREM has changed dramatically, with some of the world's wealthiest businessmen now involved in English club rugby.

Red Bull's takeover of Newcastle, Sir James Dyson's investment in Bath and the £19.6million Black Knight Rugby takeover of Exeter Chiefs have completely transformed the league's rich list. Exeter's deal was completed in June, with Bill Foley's Cannae Holdings becoming the majority owner.

Meanwhile, Sale Sharks owner Simon Orange has seen his business fortunes soar following the sale of a majority stake in his CorpAcq empire, while long-standing billionaire Steve Lansdown continues to provide Bristol Bears with some of the deepest pockets in the league.

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There is one important caveat when comparing the clubs. Some are owned directly by wealthy individuals, while Newcastle, Exeter and Saracens sit within larger corporate or consortium structures.

Where a reliable personal fortune isn't publicly available, we've therefore used the best available estimate or the wealth of the individual most closely associated with the ownership.

Here is how the Gallagher PREM's owners and major financial backers rank from 10 to one.

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10. Northampton Saints – No individual controlling owner

Estimated wealth: N/A

Northampton are the outlier on this list because there isn't one billionaire benefactor sitting behind the club.

Saints have traditionally had a broad shareholder base rather than relying upon a single wealthy owner, a model that makes assigning one net-worth figure to the club misleading.

The structure has not prevented Northampton from attracting significant investors, while their commercial success and strong support at Franklin's Gardens has helped establish Saints as one of the more sustainably operated clubs in English rugby.

For that reason, we've placed them at number 10 rather than attempting to invent a combined fortune for dozens of shareholders.

9. Gloucester Rugby – Martin St Quinton

Estimated net worth: £20.2m+

Martin St Quinton made his fortune in business before becoming the majority shareholder at Gloucester.

The businessman founded telecommunications company Azzurri Communications before selling the company, with previous estimates placing his fortune at around £20.2million.

That number should now be treated as a historical estimate rather than a definitive assessment of his current wealth, with no recent Rich List-style valuation publicly available.

St Quinton initially became involved with Gloucester as vice-chairman before taking a controlling interest and has continued to provide financial backing to the Cherry and Whites.

8. Harlequins – Duncan Saville

Estimated net worth: £20m+

Harlequins have a more complicated ownership structure than many of their Gallagher PREM rivals.

Australian-born businessman Duncan Saville has long been one of the major figures behind the London club alongside financier Charles Jillings.

Saville made his money in investment management and founded ICM, an international fund-management business with investments across a wide range of sectors.

Older estimates have put his personal wealth at approximately £20million, although there is no authoritative contemporary valuation of his fortune.

That makes the figure another that should be viewed as a conservative historical estimate rather than a definitive assessment of his current wealth.

7. Leicester Tigers – Tom Scott

Estimated net worth: £50m+

Tom Scott has become one of the most influential figures at Leicester Tigers and took over as chairman in 2025.

The Jersey-based businessman made a significant chunk of his fortune through the Jacksons CI Group, which he sold for £41.7million in 2014.

His interests through Sealyham Investments have subsequently included property, corporate finance and numerous other investments.

Scott has also demonstrated his commitment to Leicester with his own money.

He became the club's largest shareholder after injecting a further £10million into Tigers in 2023, helping strengthen the finances of one of English rugby's biggest clubs.

There isn't a reliable recent valuation of his overall personal fortune, making £50m+ a conservative estimate rather than a definitive Rich List figure.

6. Saracens – Kimono House consortium

Estimated combined wealth: Hundreds of millions

Trying to put a single figure on Saracens is almost impossible.

Kimono House Limited acquired the controlling interest in the club in 2022 as part of a deal that included a commitment to invest £32million.

The consortium included insurance executive Dominic Silvester alongside Neil Golding, Nick Leslau, Paul O'Shea, Francois Pienaar and Marco Masotti, while long-time backer Nigel Wray retained a minority interest.

There is considerable financial firepower within that group.

Silvester spent years at the top of global insurance company Enstar, while property investor Leslau has also built a substantial fortune during his business career.

The wealth behind Saracens comfortably runs into the hundreds of millions, but combining the fortunes of several investors and presenting the result as a single "net worth" would be misleading.

5. Sale Sharks – Simon Orange

Estimated net worth: £1bn+

This is arguably the biggest mover since previous versions of this list.

Older estimates put Simon Orange's fortune at just £25million, but that figure is now hopelessly outdated following the extraordinary growth of his business empire.

Orange founded investment group CorpAcq in 2006 and went on to build a portfolio containing more than 40 businesses.

Then came the enormous deal.

Private equity giant TDR Capital acquired a majority stake in CorpAcq in January 2025, with the transaction reported to value Orange's business empire at more than £1billion.

That doesn't mean Orange personally received £1bn – TDR acquired a majority stake rather than buying every asset from him personally – so the transaction value shouldn't simply be treated as cash sitting in the Sale owner's bank account.

However, it demonstrates just how dramatically his business interests have grown since the £25m estimates previously attached to his name.

Orange first became involved with Sale in 2016 when he led the consortium that bought the Sharks.

He is also the brother of former Take That star Jason Orange.

4. Bristol Bears – Steve Lansdown

Estimated net worth: £1.25bn

Steve Lansdown has been one of English rugby's wealthiest benefactors for years.

The Bristol-born businessman co-founded financial services giant Hargreaves Lansdown with Peter Hargreaves in 1981 before going on to build a sporting empire in his home city.

Through Bristol Sport, Lansdown's interests have included Bristol Bears, Bristol City and Bristol Flyers, with the redevelopment of Ashton Gate at the heart of the project.

The 2026 Sunday Times Rich List puts Lansdown's fortune at £1.25billion, unchanged from the previous year.

Interestingly, Forbes currently values him considerably higher, at around $3.2billion, demonstrating how much billionaire wealth estimates can vary depending on methodology.

For consistency with the other UK-based owners, we've used the £1.25bn Sunday Times figure.

3. Exeter Chiefs – Bill Foley/Black Knight Rugby

Estimated net worth: £2bn+

Exeter are the newest addition to the Gallagher PREM's billionaire-backed clubs.

In June 2026, Black Knight Rugby – part of Cannae Holdings – completed its takeover of Exeter Rugby Group, becoming the majority owner of the Chiefs.

The deal was worth £19.6million and brought the Sandy Park club under the control of the same investment network associated with Bournemouth owner Bill Foley.

The American businessman is vice-chairman of Cannae Holdings and now sits on Exeter's new three-person executive board alongside Chiefs chairman Tony Rowe and Cannae CEO Ryan Caswell.

Foley made his fortune in financial services and is perhaps best known in sport for establishing the Vegas Golden Knights NHL franchise.

His sporting empire has subsequently expanded rapidly, most notably through his ownership of Bournemouth and investments in football clubs around the world.

The important distinction is that Exeter are owned by Black Knight Rugby/Cannae, rather than Foley personally.

Nevertheless, his involvement gives the Chiefs access to financial resources on a completely different scale to their previous member-owned model.

2. Bath Rugby – Sir James Dyson and Bruce Craig

Estimated combined net worth: £12.3bn

Bath's financial firepower increased exponentially in 2026.

Inventor and entrepreneur Sir James Dyson acquired a 50 per cent stake in Bath, becoming equal partners with long-term owner Bruce Craig.

Dyson and his family are worth an estimated £12billion according to the 2026 Sunday Times Rich List, despite their fortune falling an extraordinary £8.8bn from £20.8bn a year earlier.

Add Craig's previously estimated fortune of around £300million and Bath's two principal owners have combined wealth in the region of £12.3billion.

Dyson's involvement isn't simply that of a billionaire suddenly discovering rugby.

He has supported Bath for decades and his arrival as an owner represents one of the most significant investments in the club's history.

It also comes at an important moment as Bath continue their plans to transform The Rec.

Only one Gallagher PREM club can boast even greater financial backing.

1. Newcastle Red Bulls – Red Bull

Financial backing: £33bn+

Nobody in English club rugby can match the extraordinary wealth now sitting behind Newcastle.

Red Bull's takeover transformed the former Newcastle Falcons into Newcastle Red Bulls, bringing one of the biggest brands in global sport into English rugby.

The company's sporting interests already stretch across Formula One, football, ice hockey and numerous other disciplines.

And the fortunes of the people behind Red Bull are staggering.

A recent 2026 rich list estimates Mark Mateschitz and Chalerm Yoovidhya at around £33billion each. Mateschitz owns 49 per cent of Red Bull, while the Yoovidhya interests control the other 51 per cent.

That doesn't mean either man personally owns Newcastle Red Bulls, so describing Newcastle as having a £66bn owner would be misleading.

What it does demonstrate is the almost unprecedented financial power of the company now sitting behind the PREM club.

For context, Mateschitz's estimated fortune alone is more than double Dyson's £12bn valuation.

Newcastle have gone from being one of the league's most financially vulnerable clubs to being backed by one of the world's great sporting empires.