Barry and Eddie Hearn have surpassed the £1billion mark thanks to their sports media empire. The father and son duo own Matchroom Sports, which works across boxing, snooker and darts.
Barry started out in snooker in the 1970s, representing six-time world champion Steve Davis. The 77-year-old founded Matchroom in 1982 and his son Eddie, 46, has helped expand the empire further, becoming a celebrity in his own right through boxing.
Matchroom has represented Frank Bruno, Chris Eubank Sr, Lennox Lewis and is now best known for working with Anthony Joshua. Barry is also chairman of the Professional Darts Corporation and has helped darts surge in popularity in recent years, while also having a significant say in snooker, having acquired the World Snooker Tour in 2010.
Their work has made them extremely rich and The Sunday Times rich list now makes them the third wealthiest people in UK sport with a combined worth of £1.035 billion, putting them behind only F1 mogul Bernie Ecclestone (£2bn) and David and Victoria Beckham (£1.185bn).
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They come in above F1 driver Sir Lewis Hamilton, who is the highest active athlete on the rich list in fifth with £435m, ahead of golfer Rory McIlroy (seventh) on £325m.
Matchroom’s most prominent client, Joshua, is eighth on the list with an estimated worth of £240m, ahead of Tyson Fury in ninth with £162m. England captain Harry Kane and tennis legend Sir Andy Murray share 10th spot on £110m each.
While it was Barry who founded the Matchroom empire, Eddie has more than played his part in expanding it. As Eddie wrote for the Big Issue in 2020: “I think being my dad’s son has been the underlying drive and chip on my shoulder that’s made me what I am. I work like I haven’t got a penny.
View 2 ImagesEddie and Barry Hearn are worth over £1bn(Image: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
“That’s partly because of the values he has instilled in me, but also because I have the drive to outperform him. There was only one way I could ever become my own person and get my own success, and that was to take what he’s done to completely another level.
“And now you know, we joke, people go up to him on the Tube and say, oh, you’re Eddie Hearn’s dad, aren’t you? And we love that. It’s always been about competition for us.
“I say this quite a lot, and it sounds weird, but the one thing I’m jealous about is that my dad built his business and his empire from nothing. From a council estate in Dagenham. I never got the chance to do that.
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“You can only play the hand you’re dealt. But that must be an amazing feeling, to live where he lives now, having grown up with nothing. Now it’s my responsibility to carry on that legacy, to protect that name and take it forward.”
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