The Most Famous

BUSINESSPEOPLE from Ireland

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This page contains a list of the greatest Irish Businesspeople. The pantheon dataset contains 847 Businesspeople, 5 of which were born in Ireland. This makes Ireland the birth place of the 25th most number of Businesspeople behind Greece, and Azerbaijan.

Top 5

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Irish Businesspeople of all time. This list of famous Irish Businesspeople is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity.

Photo of Eddie Jordan

1. Eddie Jordan (1948 - 2025)

With an HPI of 75.29, Eddie Jordan is the most famous Irish Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 38 different languages on wikipedia.

Edmund Patrick Jordan (30 March 1948 – 20 March 2025) was an Irish motorsport executive, broadcaster, racing driver and businessman. From 1991 to 2005, Jordan served as founder and team principal of Jordan in Formula One. Born in Dublin, Jordan initially worked at the Bank of Ireland before he began kart racing aged 22, winning the Irish championship the following year and progressing to lower formulae. Between 1974 and 1979, he competed in Irish Formula Ford, Formula Three, Formula Atlantic and Formula Two. In 1979, he founded the eponymous Eddie Jordan Racing, who competed in International Formula 3000 from 1985 to 1991. Jordan then founded Jordan Grand Prix as a Formula One constructor in 1991, winning four Grands Prix across 15 seasons and finishing third in the 1999 World Constructors' Championship. He sold the team to Midland at the end of 2005. He worked as an analyst for the BBC from 2009 to 2015, before joining Channel 4 in 2016. Jordan was also a co-owner of rugby club London Irish and association football club Celtic.

Photo of Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe

2. Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe (1865 - 1922)

With an HPI of 67.58, Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe is the 2nd most famous Irish Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe (15 July 1865 – 14 August 1922), was a British newspaper and publishing magnate. As owner of the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror, he was an early developer of popular journalism, and he exercised vast influence over British popular opinion during the Edwardian era. Lord Beaverbrook said he was "the greatest figure who ever strode down Fleet Street." About the beginning of the 20th century there were increasing attempts to develop popular journalism intended for the working class and tending to emphasize sensational topics. Harmsworth was the main innovator. Lord Northcliffe had a powerful role during the First World War, especially by criticizing the government regarding the Shell Crisis of 1915. He directed a mission to the new ally, the United States, during 1917, and was director of enemy propaganda during 1918. His Amalgamated Press employed writers such as Arthur Mee and John Hammerton, and its subsidiary, the Educational Book Company, published The Harmsworth Self-Educator, The Children's Encyclopædia, Harmsworth Popular Science, and Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia. Challenging the dominance in popularity of the "penny dreadfuls" among British children, from the 1890s Harmsworth half-penny periodicals, such as Illustrated Chips, would enjoy a virtual monopoly of comics in the UK until the emergence of DC Thomson comics in the 1930s.

Photo of Arthur Guinness

3. Arthur Guinness (1725 - 1803)

With an HPI of 60.03, Arthur Guinness is the 3rd most famous Irish Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Arthur Guinness (c. 24 September 1725 – 23 January 1803) was an Irish brewer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. The inventor of Guinness beer, he founded the Guinness Brewery at St. James's Gate in 1759. Guinness was born in Ardclogh, near Celbridge, County Kildare, in 1725. His father was employed by Arthur Price, a bishop of the Church of Ireland. Guinness himself was later employed by Price, and upon his death in 1752, both he and his father were bequeathed funds from Price's will. Guinness then worked at his stepmother's public house before founding a brewery in Leixlip. In 1759, during a financial crisis that created an abundance of affordable property, Guinness moved to Dublin and purchased an abandoned brewery from the Rainsford family. It was originally an ale brewery, but Guinness began producing porter in 1778, and by 1799, production of ale ceased with the popularity of his darker beer. Outside of his brewery, Guinness was socially and politically active. A devout Protestant, he founded the first Sunday school in Dublin in 1786 and frequently argued for his fellow gentry to set a strong moral example. He was largely supportive of Catholic rights in Ireland but opposed the Irish Rebellion of 1798. As a member of the Dublin Corporation of Brewers, Guinness was also instrumental in petitioning the Irish House of Commons to change the tax code surrounding the importation of beer. Guinness and his wife had ten children together, and upon Guinness's death in 1803, his son Arthur Guinness II inherited the brewery and all operations.

Photo of Tim O'Reilly

4. Tim O'Reilly (b. 1954)

With an HPI of 53.47, Tim O'Reilly is the 4th most famous Irish Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Timothy O'Reilly (born 6 June 1954) is an Irish-American author and publisher, who is the founder of O'Reilly Media (formerly O'Reilly & Associates). He popularised the terms open source and Web 2.0.

Photo of Michael O'Leary

5. Michael O'Leary (b. 1961)

With an HPI of 51.32, Michael O'Leary is the 5th most famous Irish Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Michael Kevin O'Leary (born 20 March 1961) is an Irish businessman who is the Group CEO of Ryanair. With an estimated net worth of around $1.1 billion as of June 2018, he is one of Ireland's wealthiest businessmen.

People

Pantheon has 5 people classified as Irish businesspeople born between 1725 and 1961. Of these 5, 2 (40.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Irish businesspeople include Tim O'Reilly, and Michael O'Leary. The most famous deceased Irish businesspeople include Eddie Jordan, Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe, and Arthur Guinness. As of April 2024, 5 new Irish businesspeople have been added to Pantheon including Eddie Jordan, Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe, and Arthur Guinness.

Living Irish Businesspeople

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Deceased Irish Businesspeople

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Newly Added Irish Businesspeople (2024)

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Overlapping Lives

Which Businesspeople were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 3 most globally memorable Businesspeople since 1700.