Jamie Reuben & Amanda Staveley's Newcastle United 'resignations' truth after Companies House update

Newcastle United co-owners Amanda Staveley and Jamie Reuben have resigned as directors of companies associated with the club.

Companies House updates on April 16 confirmed Staveley and Reuben were no longer directors of Newcastle United Football Club Limited along with 19 other Newcastle-related companies with CEO Darren Eales appointed in their place.

The changes have left Magpies fans wondering what it means but in truth, it means very little in terms of the day-to-day running of the club. The pair’s resignations are understood to be part of business housekeeping and following best practice, and that many of the subsidiary companies are dormant.

Staveley and Reuben remain directors at Newcastle United and on the board alongside non-executive chairman Yasir Al-Rumayaan, chair of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, and Abdulmajid Alhagbani & Asmaa Rezeeq.

In October 2021, the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund acquired an 80% stake in club as NCUK Investment Limited while Jamie Reuben's RB Sports & Media and Staveley's Cantervale Holdings gained 20% as JV1 Limited.

The shares between RB Sports & Media and Cantervale Holdings were initially equal at a 10%, however that has since been altered.

In January it was revealed Staveley’s stake had reduced to 6% with Reuben’s increasing to 14%. But the split is now 5.7%/ 14.3%, as confirmed in JV1 Companies House update over the weekend.

In a graph created by Greg Cordell (@gregorypcordell), RB Sports & Media have acquired another 7,400,000 shares, increasing their total to 87,337,795 compared to Cantervale’s 34,457,795. Of the 121, 580,002 shares JVI own in Newcastle, that equates to a split of 71.7%/ 28.3%.

A thread by Cordell - endorsed by football finance expert Kieran Maguire - read: “As expected, each filing by JV1 Ltd that waived pre-emption rights was housekeeping for prior share issuances (10 Feb 2023; 22 Aug 2023; 04 Apr 2024). This also confirms that all 7.4m shares issued on 04 Apr 2024 were allotted to RB Sports & Media.

“The impact on ownership is minor overall, but with this latest investment RB Sports & Media's stake in JV1 Ltd increased from 69.9% to 71.7% and Cantervale Holdings' stake decreased from 30.1% to 28.3%.

“Given that JV1 Limited indirectly owns 20% of NUFC, Reuben's beneficial ownership increased from 14.0% to 14.3% and Staveley's beneficial ownership decreased from 6.0% to 5.7%.” 

Despite Staveley's diluted share, the Ripon-born financer remains a key figure at St James' Park. Her and husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi remain in charge of the day-to-day running of the football club.