Irish businessman Shane O’Neill dies


20 Feb 2012

Taoiseach Enda Kenny honours Shane O'Neill (right) with the Chello Foundation Humanitarian Award late last year. In the background are Shane's brother Brian and his son Jamie

Dublin native Shane O’Neill, the former head of Liberty Global’s content division Chellomedia, died in a London hospital on Saturday after a 15-month battle with the degenerative brain disease Creutzfeldt-Jakob. He was 50.

O’Neill, who was based in London, stepped down from his roles as SVP and chief strategy officer, Liberty Global, and president of subsidiary Chellomedia Services Limited in December.

He was instrumental in driving the success of Liberty Global’s UPC Broadband division in Europe and was also president of Liberty Global’s investment arm, LGI Ventures.

O’Neill received an undergraduate law degree from Trinity College Dublin and was a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.

He worked at KPMG in Dublin for three years before moving to Australia to work with Macquarie bank. He later joined Goldman Sachs, specialising in mergers and acquisitions, media and the communications industry.

He became chief strategy officer of Liberty Global in 2002.

O’Neill is survived by his wife, his parents, his three children and three siblings.