Denis O'Brien (born 19 April 1958) is an Irish billionaire businessman, and the founder and owner of Digicel. He was listed among the World's Top 200 Billionaires in 2015 and was Ireland's richest native-born citizen for a period of several years. His business interests have also extended to aircraft leasing (Aergo Capital), utilities support (Actavo), petroleum (Topaz Energy), football (a minority shareholder of Celtic F.C.), and healthcare (Beacon Hospital). As former chairman of the Esat Digifone consortium, O'Brien was questioned by the Moriarty Tribunal, which investigated the awarding of a mobile phone licence to Esat, among other things. In 2021, O'Brien sold his stake in Communicorp and the Pacific operations of Digicel. O'Brien engages in various philanthropic activities, including being on the board of Concern Worldwide, founding the Iris O'Brien Foundation and establishing a fellowship at Boston College. In 2019, O'Brien earned the Award for Outstanding Achievement from the Irish-US Council. Early life O'Brien was born in the city of Cork. He was the only boy among four children, and grew up in the Ballsbridge area of Dublin. His father created a medical supply company and later a horse nutrition business. As a child, Denis accompanied his father on business trips, where he learned how to close sales. He attended The High School in Rathgar, where he was once suspended for three months, until the school asked him back to participate in a rugby championship. His first job was as a hotel bellhop at age 14, and he started working on building cleaning jobs at 15. In 1977, O'Brien received a BA in politics, history and logic at University College Dublin. While attending UCD, he received a scholarship to attend Boston College, where he completed an MBA. Career Early stages Upon his return to Dublin, O'Brien was employed at a small investment bank, Trinity Bank, but he left that job to become a personal assistant to Tony Ryan, owner of an aircraft leasing company. Communications and media O'Brien has spent most of his career in the communications technology and mass media industries. He has also been a part owner of energy, aerospace, and industrial service companies. Communicorp O'Brien was until early 2021 the owner of Communicorp, a media holding company operating across Europe. He started the company in Ireland in 1989, where it has owned independent radio stations like Newstalk and Today FM. The company expanded to markets in Eastern