Who Owns West Ham?

West Ham is owned by David Sullivan and Daniel Křetínský, each recorded on the register with more than 25% but not more than 50% of the shares. Sullivan has been there since 2010; Křetínský bought in during November 2021. The third name, David Gold, ceased on 3 January 2023, the day before his death. Ownership verified 6 September 2026.

Who owns West Ham?

The club is WEST HAM UNITED FOOTBALL CLUB LIMITED (00066516), incorporated 5 July 1900 — the year the club was founded as Thames Ironworks became West Ham United. It has previously been named West Ham United plc and West Ham United Football Company Limited.

The chain above it is short and every step is on the register:

1. West Ham United Football Club Limited (00066516)
2. West Ham United Limited (03407691) — formerly West Ham Holdings plc
3. WH Holding Limited (05993863) — registered at the London Stadium

Current owners and shareholding structure

WH Holding Limited’s PSC register names two people:

• Mr David Sullivan — British, more than 25% but not more than 50% of the shares, notified 6 April 2016
• Mr Daniel Kretinsky — Czech, on the same basis, notified 10 November 2021

Neither reaches a majority on the register’s bands, though Sullivan is reported to hold the larger stake and remains the dominant figure at the club.

A third entry has ceased. Mr David Gold, who bought the club alongside Sullivan in 2010, is recorded as ceasing on 3 January 2023. He died the following day, and the cessation reflects that.

Key controlling people and entities

David Sullivan, a businessman who previously owned Birmingham City with Gold, has been the controlling voice since 2010 and is the club’s largest shareholder.

Daniel Křetínský is the more consequential name for anyone tracking British ownership generally. He is not only a West Ham shareholder: as this site’s other pages record, his EP Group bought Royal Mail in 2024–25, and his Vesa Equity became Sainsbury’s largest shareholder in December 2025.

So one Czech investor holds positions in a Premier League club, the national postal operator and a major supermarket. Those are separate holdings rather than a group, but they make him one of the more significant individual owners of British assets, and the register names him in each case.

Karren Brady is vice-chair and runs the club’s business operations; that is an executive role, not an ownership one.

Ownership history

West Ham has changed hands twice in twenty years, the first time disastrously.

• 2006 — bought by an Icelandic consortium led by Eggert Magnússon and backed by Björgólfur Guðmundsson, owner of Landsbanki.
• 2008–09 — the Icelandic banking collapse takes Landsbanki down and leaves the club in severe difficulty, held by the bank’s resolution committee.
• 2010 — David Sullivan and David Gold buy control from the Icelandic administrators.
• November 2021 — Daniel Křetínský acquires a stake reported at 27%.
• January 2023 — David Gold dies; his holding passes to his estate and family.

The Icelandic episode is the same collapse that cost Iceland Foods its owner, as this site’s Iceland page records — one banking failure that changed the ownership of both a supermarket and a football club.

The move to the London Stadium in 2016 is a related but separate matter: the club is a tenant. The stadium is owned by a public body, not by West Ham, and the terms of that tenancy have been repeatedly controversial.

Related clubs or investment group

Sullivan and Gold previously owned Birmingham City, which they sold in 2009 before buying West Ham. Křetínský’s football interests include a stake in Sparta Prague.

Multi-club ownership rules restrict clubs under common control from meeting in the same European competition, which is why cross-holdings of this kind are declared and monitored.

Sources and verification

All three company numbers, the 1900 incorporation, the previous names and every PSC entry with its band and dates — including Gold’s cessation on 3 January 2023 — are from the Companies House register and can be checked directly.

The reported percentages are not: the register gives only bands, so Sullivan’s and Křetínský’s precise stakes, and the treatment of Gold’s holding within his estate, are established by club statements and reporting rather than by any filing. Companies House does not verify most filed information.