Football League World
·26 October 2024
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·26 October 2024
The businessman has been in charge of his hometown team for the past six years
Simon Hallett became the majority shareholder of Plymouth Argyle in 2018, and since then, the club has continued to grow both on and off the field.
While there have been plenty of improvements around Home Park and all the footballing facilities around the club of late, the players have been doing the business on the pitch, with a rise from the fourth tier to the second.
Having stayed in the Championship by the skin of their teeth in the previous campaign, the Pilgrims are hoping Wayne Rooney can do the business during 24/25, and kick on from their initial return to the top level of the English Football League.
For Hallett, the long-term plan to become a club competing for Premier League football continues, but how did the current Argyle owner make his millions?
Having been born and bred in the city, Hallett studied at Oxford University in the 1970s, where he did a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics before venturing overseas to make his millions.
Roles at American company Harding Loevner saw him start to rise up the ranks in the business industry; starting out as Global Equity Portfolio Manager in 1991, before eventually becoming Vice President of the company.
Having overseen the rise of the company throughout his 30-year career in the business, Harding Loevner currently holds over $80 billion in equities, and has stakes in global companies such as PayPal and Facebook.
Hallett also worked at Jardine Fleming Investment Management prior his role in the States, with that post seeing him stationed in Hong Kong, as well as being employed by Midland Bank.
According to the Money Maze Podcast, Hallett helped the start-up grow into Hong Kong’s biggest asset manager, leading to their sale to JPMorgan Chase in 2000.
A £3.25 million investment in Argyle saw Hallett become majority shareholder of his beloved Greens in 2018, which saw the American-based businessman secure 64% of the football club he supported as a boy.
That stake rose to 87% in July 2023, as he agreed to by a further 3.3million shares from outgoing investors Argyle Green LLC.
The Pilgrims’ owner has outlined his goal to make the club one that is challenging for a place in the top tier by 2028, and with his net worth reported to be around the £66 million mark, there will likely need to be extra investment from other sources in years to come if they are to achieve that goal.
Having been a shrewd investor for much of his career, Hallett knows what it takes to make a plan succeed, and his approach to running Argyle has proven as much of late, with the club spending within their means as they continue to progress year-on-year.
The search for investment into the football club continues, with the Greens chief still scouring for someone willing to add extra funds to see them able to compete with the wealth of the Championship, with their transfer kitty substantially lower than many of their divisional rivals at this moment in time.
While Hallett has considerable wealth of his own, it pales into comparison alongside some of those in the Championship, nevermind the Premier League, with the businessman constantly wanting to find extra help to get the best for the club that he gives his all towards.
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