Ellis Short (born October 6, 1960) American businessman and founder of

Kildare Partners Kildare Partners is a London-based private equity fund investing in distressed European real estate assets, founded by the Irish-American billionaire Ellis Short, the Chief Investment Officer. History Kildare Partners was founded in London in 2 ...

, a

private equity fund A private equity fund (abbreviated as PE fund) is a collective investment scheme used for making investments in various equity (and to a lesser extent debt) securities according to one of the investment strategies associated with private equity. ...

investing in distressed European real estate assets. Short was also the owner and chairman of English football club

Sunderland A.F.C. Sunderland Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1879, the club has won si ...

from September 2008 to April 2018.

Early life

Ellis Short was born in

Independence, Missouri Independence is a city in and one of two county seats of Jackson County, Missouri, United States. It is a satellite city of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the largest suburb on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area. In 2020 Unite ...

to Patricia and Ellis Short III. and attended

William Chrisman High School William Chrisman High School is a high school located in Independence, Missouri, United States, as part of the Independence School District. History The school was founded in 1888 and was known as Independence High School. The first building ...

. He earned a degree in mechanical engineering at the

Missouri University of Science and Technology Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T or S&T) is a public research university in Rolla, Missouri. It is a member institution of the University of Missouri System. Most of its 6,456 students (2023) study engineering, busin ...

in 1983.

Career

After graduating, Short worked for

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

beginning in 1983. In 1995, Short joined Lone Star Funds, a Dallas-based private equity firm, becoming president of the fund and heading its Asian operations. In 2003, Short paid £23 million for

Skibo Castle Skibo Castle (Scottish Gaelic: ''Caisteal Sgìobail'') is located to the west of Dornoch in the Highland (council area), Highland county of Sutherland, Scotland overlooking the Dornoch Firth. Although largely of the 19th century and early 20th ce ...

, which operates as a members-only hotel and country club in Scotland. The castle is famous for hosting Madonna's wedding to Guy Ritchie in 2000. In 2013, Short formed a new company, Kildare Partners, to invest in distressed property assets and non-performing debt.

Sunderland AFC

In September 2008, Short gained a controlling interest in

In December of that year, Short worked on completing a deal with the Drumaville Consortium for their remaining shares in the club. After the Sunderland A.F.C. ownership change,

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

Roy Keane Roy Maurice Keane (born 10 August 1971) is an Irish football pundit, former coach, and former professional player. He is best known for his career in the Premier League, in particular his captaincy of Manchester United. He is the joint most ...

left the club. Short assumed ownership of the club in May 2009. His purchase of the club made Sunderland the fourth club in the Premier League to have American owners, alongside

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. In November 2011, Short sacked

Steve Bruce Stephen Roger Bruce (born 31 December 1960) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who was a centre-back in a twenty-year playing career. He is currently the head coa ...

after a poor run of results, which Short labelled 'not good enough'. Nine days later,

Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who played as a midfielder. After a brief early career in the Irish Leag ...

was appointed Bruce's successor. O'Neill himself was succeeded by Italian ex-footballer

Paolo Di Canio Paolo Di Canio (born 9 July 1968) is an Italian former professional footballer and manager. During his playing career he made over 500 league appearances and scored over one hundred goals as a Forward (association football), forward. He primari ...

in 2013. Di Canio, in turn, was dismissed in September 2013 after a poor start to the Premier League season. Gus Poyet was put in charge of the first team and guided Sunderland to Premier League safety, but he was replaced late in the 2014–15 campaign by Dick Advocaat, who helped the team avoid relegation and secure its top-flight status for 2015–16. Advocaat's replacement,

Sam Allardyce Samuel Allardyce (born 19 October 1954) is an English football manager and former professional player. Allardyce made 578 league and cup appearances in a 21-year career spent mostly in the Football League, as well as brief spells in the North ...

, left the club in July 2016 and was replaced by

David Moyes David William Moyes (born 25 April 1963) is a Scottish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player, who currently manages Premier League club Everton F.C., Everton. He was the 2003, 200 ...

, who in turn resigned after Sunderland finished last in the 2016–17 season and were relegated to the EFL Championship.

Simon Grayson Simon Nicholas Grayson (born 16 December 1969) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who is head coach of National League (division), National League club Hartlepool ...

was appointed manager in June 2017. After a dire run of results, Grayson was dismissed after a 3–3 home draw with fellow strugglers Bolton Wanderers. Ex-Wales manager, Chris Coleman was appointed as the new Sunderland manager on November 19, 2017. However, after Ellis decided to spend no money during the mid-season transfer window, Sunderland were relegated on April 21, 2018. Coleman was sacked and the club sold on April 29, 2018, to a consortium headed by Stewart Donald, chairman of Eastleigh F.C.

Personal life

He is married to former tennis player Eve Zimmerman. In 2021, the

Sunday Times Rich List The ''Sunday Times Rich List'' is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the United Kingdom ranked by net wealth. The list is updated annually in April and has been published as a magazine supplement by British national ...

estimated his net worth at £880 million. Short was a resident of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England for many years but returned to the United States in 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Short, Ellis 1960 births American billionaires American financial businesspeople American people of Irish descent English football chairmen and investors Living people Missouri University of Science and Technology alumni People from Independence, Missouri Sunderland A.F.C. directors and chairmen Irish billionaires American emigrants to Ireland Irish financial businesspeople 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century Irish businesspeople