James Palumbo, Baron Palumbo of Southwark

James "Jamie" Rudolph Palumbo, Baron Palumbo of Southwark (born 6 June 1963) is a British entrepreneur and member of the House of Lords.

The Right Honourable The Lord Palumbo of Southwark
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 October 2013 Life Peerage
Personal details
Born	James Rudolph Palumbo 6 June 1963 London, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal Democrats
Residence	London, England
Occupation	Entrepreneur
Net worth	£300 million,[1] (Est. 2020)

Biography

The eldest son of property developer Peter Palumbo, Baron Palumbo, Jamie was born in London and educated at Eton College and Worcester College, Oxford.[2]

From 1984 to 1992, Palumbo worked in the City of London for Merrill Lynch and Morgan Grenfell in equity capital markets and property finance.[3]

In September 1991 Palumbo, together with his school friend Humphrey Waterhouse and DJ Justin Berkmann, founded the Ministry of Sound nightclub in South London. Ministry of Sound expanded into a number of areas including recorded music, live events, digital media and merchandise. Ministry of Sound Recordings sold over 70 million albums and by 2014 had become the largest independent music company in the world.[4] In 2001 Palumbo sold 16% of the business to 3i for £24 million, which he subsequently reacquired.[5] In 2016 he sold Ministry of Sound Recordings to the Sony Music Group for $104 million.[6] Publishing, live events, merchandise, and the London club remain part of the group.

In 1994 he launched legal proceedings against his father with his sister, Annabella Adams, claiming his father had mismanaged the family trust;[7] subsequently his father resigned as a trustee.[8]

His debut novel about corruption in the modern world, Tomas, was published in 2009.[9] Stephen Fry called the novel "remarkable... It's as if Thomas Pynchon and Burroughs and Vonnegut got together and had a bastard love child."[10] His second novel, Tancredi, about short termism in politics, was published in 2011.

Following the 2010 election Palumbo helped reorganise Lib Dem headquarters to make the party more efficient in Government.[11] Palumbo is a major donor to the Liberal Democrats.[12] In October 2013, Palumbo was created a life peer taking the title Baron Palumbo of Southwark, of Southwark, in the London Borough of Southwark.[13]

In 2017 he opened an animal sanctuary in Thailand with Rawipim Paijit, focused on spay and neuter, rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming of street dogs.[14]

Personal life

He lives in London with his Thai friend of thirty years, Miss Rawipim Paijit.[3] He has a son, Alessandro, born in 1991 to Atoosa Hariri.[2]

References

1. The Sunday Times Rich List 2020
2. Wynne-Jones, Ros (2 November 1997). "The Man From the Ministry". The Independent. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
3. Bell, Matthew (9 August 2009). "James Palumbo: There's only money, sex; and music and mellowing". The Independent. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
4. Club class: 20 years of the Ministry of Sound, The Independent. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
5. "Sunday Times Rich List 2016".
6. "Sony bought Ministry of Sound for £67m, Century Media for £12m". 11 January 2017.
7. Kelsey, Tim (11 April 1994). "Lord Palumbo accused of benefiting from trust". The Independent. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
8. Kate Rankine, 'Daily Telegraph', 13 September 2003, Business profile: Chairman with a passion for needlework
9. "Tomas", Quartet Books. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
10. YouTube
11. Sylvester, Alice Thomson Rachel (16 November 2013). "Palumbo the Younger ready to make peace over a cuppa". The Times.
12. Christopher Hope and Stephen Swinford (1 August 2013). "Peerages for multi-millionaires who 'donated their way into the Lords'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
13. "No. 60648". The London Gazette. 4 October 2013. p. 19575.
14. "James Palumbo on partying, politics and his new pet rescue mission". 4 September 2017.

External links

• Voting record at the Public Whip
• Street Dog SOS