Andrew Gower, the Cambridge boy who founded computer gaming firm Jagex with his brother in the late 1990s, pocketed £75m last year when private equity firm Insight Venture Partners bought his one-third stake in the online games company.
The deal took place in February 2011 when Insight Venture Partners upped their 35 per cent investment, bought in 2005, to a 55 per cent controlling stake.
Jagex’s financial accounts for the year to 31 March 2011 have recently appeared on Companies House, revealing that a company valauation of between £220m and £240m would have placed Gower’s one-third chunk at around the £75m mark.
Jagex, the multi award winning company behind computer games such as War of Legends and Runescape, had revenues of £45.3m in fiscal 2011 – up two per cent from the year before.
However, operating profits sank 43 per cent from £18.8m to £10.7m, while net profit for the year stood at £6.7m, down from £13.8m in 2010.
Andrew Gower ceased to be a director of the company in December 2010 when he resigned.
Jagex – said to stand for Just About The Game Experience – headquarters in Cambridge, despite its controlling stakeholder being based in New York.
