What Is Barry Hearn’s Net Worth?
We all know that top sports stars earn a fortune. But have you ever wondered what the men behind the scenes are raking in? We take a look at just how lucrative the sports event promotion business has been for one family and answer the question:
How Much Is Barry Hearn’s Net Worth?
| What is Barry Hearn’s Net Worth? | £65 million (approx) |
| What does he do for work now? | Hearn is the chairman of the Professional Darts Corporation, and was also until July 2010 chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA). He was also, up until 2014, the chairman of Leyton Orient F.C. |
| How did he get rich? | He founded Matchroom Sports. |
The Success Of Barry Hearn And Matchroom Sport
“I’m into world domination – of a sporting sense”
Barry Hearn told the Daily Mail.
Fighting his way to the top, Barry Hearn has risen from humble begins on a council estate in Dagenham, Essex to the dizzy heights of success as one of Britain’s biggest snooker and boxing promoters, with a mansion in Brentwood and a net worth of well over £50 million. That’s a success in anyone’s books!
When Barry Maurice William Hearn was born to working-class parents on 19 June 1948, no one imagined the impact he would have on the sports promotion business.
Who could have predicted that the son of a London bus driver and cleaner would go on to be the founder and chairman of Matchroom Sport, one of England’s most successful sports event promotion companies? A true rags to riches story!
Barry Hearn has been chairman of the Professional Darts Corporation, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, as well as Leyton Orient F.C. When he took charge of World Snooker Hearn said:
“It was like meeting an old girlfriend, and she’s gone a bit rough. We took snooker to a health farm, we injected botox and now she is a beautiful woman again.”
Barry Hearn Meant To Be On The Top
In 1982 Hearn founded Matchroom Sport with a Romford snooker hall, an office and a trump card – a man who would become a snooker legend and six times snooker World Championship winner, Steve Davis. Since then the company has taken on a life of its own and the Hearn family has dominated snooker, turning it into Britain’s favourite TV sport.
Today Matchroom promotes a wide variety of sports including pool, bowling, golf, fishing, darts, table tennis, poker and gymnastics – giving them all a touch of the Hearn magic.
The Greats Made Barry Hearn Great
You don’t get to the top of your game without promoting the greats. During his long and illustrious career, Barry Hearn worked with many legends, including’ British and Irish boxing greats Chris Eubank, Nigel Benn, Lennox Lewis, Naseem Hamed, Steve Collins and Herbie Hide.
Sky Sports, HBO and Fox Sports have all been long-term clients of Matchroom Sport and the company has promoted numerous big fights including, Anthony Joshua vs Joseph Parker in Cardiff in March 2019 and the Bellew vs Haye rematch at London’s O2 in May 2018.
What Is Barry Hearn’s Net Worth?
Barry Hearn may have taken a few knocks in his life, but he has never been knocked out of the game. Despite nearly going bankrupt in the early 1990s, and suffering a heart attack in 2002, he was bounced back and is now a multi-millionaire – with a rising net worth!
In 2015 his net worth was reported to be £30 million. In 2016 £45 million and by 2017 he had amassed a fortune of £54million.
According to Essex Life Magazine, the Hearn family is worth £82 million. And of that, it is estimated Barry Hearn has a net worth of more than £65 million. Not bad for a boy from a Dagenham council estate.
The Future For Matchroom
Passing the mantel to the younger generation has proved to be an inspired move by Barry Hearn. Under the leadership of Eddie Hearn, nicknamed “Flash Car” by his father, Matchroom Sport’s stock has skyrocketed, increasing both the net worth of Eddie Hearn and Hearn Snr.
With Eddie Hearn at the helm, in 2018 Matchroom Sport reported that their total revenue sales had surpassed £100 million in the previous year. The year before that, they reported £70.5 m worth of sales and profits of over £11 million. Obviously, the Hearn motto “we are relentless” is working for them and Barry may well still achieve his goal of world domination in sport.
How Does Barry Hearn’s Net Worth Stack Up Against Other English Celebrities?
Barry Hearn has built an empire from the ground up but how does his wealth measure up to other British celebrities from humble beginnings? The net worth of Danny Dyer, another rags to riches story, doesn’t come close to the Hearn fortune. And neither does Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden’s net worth.
Noel Edmond’s, however, is a different story. In a career spanning fifty years, he has made a fortune and Noel Edmond’s net worth is close to £75 million.