Animated attack on ‘dissident shareholder’ as chief says company reputation damaged

BILLIONAIRE businessman Denis O’Brien was accused yesterday by Independent News & Media (IN&M) of “causing damage” to the company’s reputation and to all of its shareholders.

Gavin O’Reilly, chief operations officer of IN&M, the son of another Irish billionaire, business chief Tony O’Reilly, was the one who launched the group’s unprecedented attack.

Mr O’Brien has been steadily undermining the grip of the O’Reilly family on Independent News & Media though his building of a considerable stake in the multimedia group, currently standing at under 22%, just behind O’Reilly’s father Tony O’Reilly, who is executive chairman of Independent News & Media and raised his stake in the company by 1.3% to 27.9%, yesterday.