User:Dukeofearlsfield

Jonathan (Jonnie) Goodwin, is one of the founding partners of Lepe Partners, an international merchant bank focused on the media, internet and technology sectors. With Brent Hoberman, Goodwin also co-founded Founders Forum, a network of digital entrepreneurs, corporate CEOs and senior investors.

Goodwin has advised on more than 100 media deals over the last 10 years, together worth over $20 billion.They include Chris Evans' purchase of Virgin Radio, the sale of Friends Reunited to ITV, the sale of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and more recently the merger of property websites Findaproperty.com, Primelocation.com and Zoopla.

Goodwin is a former head of the investment pillar of the British Fashion Council and an early supporter of Net-A-Porter and Jimmy Choo. He is also Treasurer of the Centre For Policy Studies, a member of the Advisory Board on Planning and Development at the Victoria and Albert Museum and Chairman of the NSPCC's Digital Taskforce.

Goodwin has featured in GQ Magazine's 100 Most Connected Men 2014 and also in the 2014 Wired 100 list of Europe's top digital influencers.

The Financial Times has described Goodwin as “...one of London’s best-connected media dealmakers."

Early career
After graduating from the University of Nottingham, Goodwin worked briefly at Coopers and Lybrand, where for one assignment he was asked to compile two reports. One report was to be on a “fascinating” proposed deal in the media sector, the other involved research into car component manufacturers; at that moment Goodwin realised he would "...prefer castration" to car parts: “Every deal I’ve worked on has been in and around the media sector since then,” he told The Telegraph in 2012.

Goodwin then spent a year at private equity group Apax Partners, before leaving to join a News Corporation/Liberty Media-backed buyout of Talk Radio in 1997. He was appointed Managing Director of Talk Radio, which went on to become the foundation for The Wireless Group PLC, for which Goodwin was Group Managing Director under Kelvin Mackenzie.

In 2000 Goodwin and Julian Culhane co-founded LongAcre Partners, a corporate finance boutique. LongAcre worked with Elisabeth Murdoch, helping to build her TV production business Shine via a series of acquisitions. LongAcre was also involved in the £175m sale of Friends Reunited to ITV. LongAcre's investors included the law firm Olswang and private equity house Corsair. In 2007 LongAcre was sold to US investment bank Jefferies. Goodwin remained at Jeffries as head of global technology, media and telecommunications until 2010.

Lepe Partners
In 2011 Goodwin and Culhane co-founded Lepe Partners, a merchant bank advising entrepreneurs and CEOs in media, internet and technology sectors. The company was named after a hamlet and beach in Hampshire.

Lepe reportedly has an “annual pledge fund” worth about £25m from former clients and the family offices, to invest alongside clients in deals on which it advises. Approximately 5% of such co-investment funds come from Goodwin. Lepe's investments include Baby Bundle, BridgeU, Masabi, Farmdrop, Festicket and Wahanda. Lepe has advised on investment deals for News Corp, Ministry of Sound, Sony and TalkTalk.

Founders Forum
In 2006 Goodwin and Hoberman created Founders Forum, an invitation-only network for digital entrepreneurs, corporate CEOs and senior investors. The event hosts talks and brainstorming sessions. Events are currently held in London, Paris, Madrid, Istanbul, Los Angeles, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Mumbai, New Delhi, Qingdao and Singapore. The Forum has 1500 members and has become known as a Europe-based equivalent of Sun Valley, the Allen & Co retreat for media executives in the US. In 2013 the Financial Times announced a media partnership with Founders Forum, presenting two awards at that year’s London event.

Also in 2013, Founders Forum and the British Government’s UK Trade & Investment arm created the Technology Innovators’ Forum (TIF-IN), which connects new UK businesses with influential heads of content, media and finance companies worldwide. Speakers at previous Forum meetings include Jeffrey Katzenberg, Daniel Ek and Ari Emanuel.

Also with Hoberman, in 2009 Goodwin founded PROfounders Capital, an early stage fund backed by entrepreneurs for digital entrepreneurs. One of its first investments was UK-based TweetDeck, the online application sold to Twitter for $40m two years later.

Philanthropy
Goodwin joined with with Hoberman and lastminute.com co-founder Martha Lane Fox to develop the Founders Forum Foundation. The Foundation facilitates internships and scholarships to school-leavers from across the UK, to break down the barriers that Goodwin believes result in the majority of media and tech company leaders coming from privileged backgrounds. Goodwin also believes entrepreneurship can address the problems faced by young people, especially “NEETs” –("not in employment, education or training").

He is disparaging of large tech firms for not doing enough to engage with the UK communities in which they operate and for failing to paying enough tax: “We should be leaning on them harder to put more back into the country,” he told The Telegraph newspaper. “I’m not talking about complicated tax structures – we need to [encourage them] to put more back into the cities they’re a part of. We’re sometimes so afraid of our own shadow that they’ll go somewhere else, but where are they going to go? If you want a [European] headquarters, London is the best place to be.”

In a 2012 article for Wired entitled “Zuck, Now It's Time to Give Something Back”, Goodwin called on technology firms to look to Victorian Britain for examples of philanthropy. He quoted the British industrialist Titus Salt, who built a new village for his factory workers after growing concerned about the pollution in Bradford. According to Goodwin, large digital firms should take "...a pinch of Salt from our history... Mark Zuckerberg donated $100m to schools in New Jersey. How pleasing – and corporately sensible – it would be to see him and others make similar commitments in the UK. The Facebook Academy has a nice ring to it.”

Hobbies
Goodwin is passionate about sailing, and in 2012 campaigned the J/109, Harlequin, becoming the overall winner at Cowes Week 2012 for both the White Group, J/109 group, and Cowes Week overall.