Robert Stephen Rubin , is a British businessman. He is the chairman, and co-owner of Pentland Group, the holding company for a number of sporting goods companies, based in Finchley, north London.
Early life
Robert Stephen Rubin was born in December 1937. After attending Canford School in Dorset, Rubin graduated from University College, London in 1958 with a degree in law, with the intention of becoming a barrister.
Career
After he unsuccessfully stood for the House of Commons at Streatham as a Liberal Party parliamentary candidate in 1959, aged 21, he joined the Liverpool Shoe Company, founded by his parents, Berko and Minnie Rubin. He was joint managing director with his father for 10 years until his father's death in 1969, when he took the role of chairman. Rubin transformed the company, renamed Pentland Group in 1973, into the UK's largest sports apparel and footwear company, owning a number of brands including Berghaus, Brasher, Ellesse, Hunter, Mitre and Speedo, amongst others. It is also the majority owner of JD Sports Fashion plc. Its success largely came from an investment in August 1981, acquiring 55% of Reebok for 77,500. By 1983/84, Reebok accounted for 70% of Pentland's turnover. Pentland's shares rose from 55p at the start of 1984 to 3 at the end of the year and up to 10 in 1985, while profits rose from 1 million in 1983 to 12.9 million in 1985. Rubin then sold off Pentland's stake in Reebok for 770m in 1991. Rubin was chairman and chief executive of Pentland until 1998 when he split his role and appointed his son, Andrew, chief executive, retaining the post of chairman. Rubin took Pentland private in 1999 to focus on longer-term investments. However, it appears that City institutions were unhappy with the way Rubin was running the company, which had underperformed the market by 40% since it floated in 1989. Rubin served as World Chairman of the Textile Institute from 1994 to 2006. From 1995 to 1998 and again from 1999 to 2001, he was president of the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry. He is also a Board Member of the Brussels-based organization CEJI - A Jewish Contribution to an Inclusive Europe. In January 2019 he was named by the Sunday Times as Britain's top ranking taxpayer with a tax liability of £181.6m.
